Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is so famous for mountain gorillas that it is easy to forget that it is home to 9 other primate species. One of them is the olive baboon.
Baboons are intensely disliked by farmers who cultivate the steep, terraced hills of the Gorilla Highlands. People’s life is already hard enough, they don’t need wildlife raiding their crops – and olive baboons are the worst of the bunch.
Thor Hansen lists the following Bakiga customs and beliefs related to keeping baboons at bay (My Gorilla Years in Uganda, New York, 2000):
Chase them with dogs, plant tea at the forest edge, tie bells to their tails, shoot the dominant male, or catch one and paint it white. The last method was said to work the best. When the ghostly-pale baboon ran back to join its troop, they would all flee in terror never to return. Unfortunately, another local belief made it impossible to put this technique into practice, as everyone in the village knew that any fool who painted a baboon white would surely die from lightning within the month…
More recent folklore has interesting things to say about the group of olive baboons remaining in Echuya Forest. As elsewhere in Uganda, they have discovered that waiting on the tarmac is the best foraging strategy. Drivers like to stop their vehicles and feed the baboons with whatever they have left. It reportedly happened so that somebody was carrying quite some money in a plastic bag, together with bananas. A moment of divided attention was enough for a baboon to run away with it all…
It is also claimed that baboons have raided a tourist vehicle for hamburgers and, perhaps stretching it a little, that they can rape humans!
🖋️ text by:
Ian Cantwell, historian and international interdisciplinary researcher, was part of the team that started the Gorilla Highlands initiative in 2011. Our region is one of his focal areas, and the pre-colonial history of the Batwa “Pygmies” a major passion. He is the author of Kigezi Mountain Mosaic, an ebook about the history and culture of southwestern Uganda. When not on research trips in Africa or Europe, Ian can be found somewhere in Ireland. [bio updated: 2026-05]
ML Rwebandira is an adventure and cultural tourism expert, writer and multimedia producer who co-founded Gorilla Highlands Experts. Born as Miha Logar, he now combines his initials with “Rwebandira” to honour the Bakiga elder Karwemera, who gave him the name. ML’s most recent publication is the Pocket Treasure. A national of both Uganda and Slovenia, Rwebandira resides with his son Lan in Musanze, Rwanda. Click for his personality-infused quarterly newsletters. [bio updated: 2026-09]
📸 photography by:
Marcus Westberg is a multiple award-winning photographer and writer from Sweden whose work — covering conservation, wildlife and travel — appears regularly in several global publications. He has made several trips to our region specifically to volunteer for Gorilla Highlands Experts. When not globetrotting, Marcus lives with his wife and daughter close to Lisbon, Portugal. Click for our interview with Marcus. [bio updated: 2026-03]
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