The house was tucked away under large old trees at the end of a long crumbling driveway. In a corner, at the end of the drive stood an old green Land Rover completely hidden by the overhanging branches of a willow tree and being swallowed up by nature. On the other side of the drive, brush and bush covered what was once a quaint garden of water features and little bridges. The kids eagerly unpacked the car, excited to move into their new home. What we hadn't realized at the time was that we were not alone. We were being watched.
The home smelt a little musty and the shadows of those trees kept the place dark and selfish with the light from outside. Old frames hung on the walls and windows struggled to open, stuck with age. Our little dogs sniffed around the corners of the house and down the steps into the wild garden, perhaps they had picked up the scent of our watcher or watchers.
With the front door open the smell of the ocean came wafting in, beckoning the kids to abandon unpacking. The lounge and dining area flowed into one another. A large white and grey marble table took up almost the entire corner of the dining area and was soon filled with a large bowl of bright oranges.
The children excited to explore the neighborhood dumped their bags in their rooms and ran out the door taking the dogs with them."We heading for the beach, back in about an hour" my son shouted out as the door slammed shut behind them. We had traveled a long road to finally have a home of our own so who cared about unpacked boxes and bags dumped in rooms that lay waiting to be sorted? I shouted back "enjoy"
"Silence," I said almost aloud as I lay back on the old high double bed in what was to be my room. I don't recall how long I had been lying there when I dozed off. Just as suddenly I was grabbed out of my sleep and pulled to my feet by an ear-piercing scream that came from the vicinity of the lounge. "I'm alone," I said to myself in terror as the next ear-piercing scream hit me. Someone was in my new house and screaming, it wasn't me and I was alone, wasn't I?
I slowly inched my way up the passage my feet silenced by the thick old grey-green carpet. Terrified, by each high-pitched scream that kept coming. I crept close to the walls and inched my way up the passage until I could see the lounge.
Still, I couldn't see where the screaming was coming from and then I saw it. It was a moment that could have had me rolling on the carpet in laughter. It was funny and it wasn't so funny.
On the front stoep crowded against the glass windows was a family troop of baboons. The alpha male had the handles of the glass sliding door and was pulling it. Pulling to open the door for the screaming little baboon trapped in my house with arms, legs, and a mouth full of as many oranges as it could hold onto.
I made a dive for the door Mr Alpha and me face to face struggled at the glass door. I desperately wanted to set the screaming baby free, Mr Alpha probably wanted the same thing. What I didn't want however was a door so wide open that the entire troop would have the luxury of raiding my entire home.
We finally managed a crack large enough for the little thief to escape with its loot, happily into the arms of the waiting troop who grabbed at those oranges and scattered.
It was our very first lesson living with our new neighbours. More lessons were to come as the troop spent more and more time in the jungle of the garden. Food had moved in and they were staying.
No amount of waving my iron at the large Apha male perched on the half part of my front door would keep him from coming in to raid my fridge. But that is for another day.