Baboon monitor surprised by fame as Simon's Town 'primate zebra crossing' goes viral

Why did the baboon cross the road? Because there's now a safe place to do so — thanks to Simon's Town's baboon monitor Jaco Wucherpfennig. 

The Simon's Town resident baboon troop has set social media alight by following Wucherpfennig to a pedestrian zebra crossing, rather than run the gauntlet of the busy main road on their own to get from the harbour side where they forage to the mountain which is their home.

As of Sunday, one of the videos of the different baboons calmly crossing the road had garnered more than 100,000 views, with many more likely to follow as word spreads of possibly the world's first “baboon zebra crossing”.

“Yes, the baboons are following me,” Wucherpfennig told TimesLIVEe Premium on Sunday in Simon's Town. “They pick it up like us — that this a safe place to cross.”

The baboons will wait for Wucherpfennig to halt the traffic before stepping onto the pedestrian crossing. They then continue on their way to find nourishment wherever available. This can be to the annoyance of some residents and shopkeepers who would prefer the troop remains on the mountainside. 

But Wucherpfennig says baboons are hugely popular with tourists, particularly when it's time to cross the road.

He fields questions from tourists who take photos and videos of the spectacle.

His job is to make sure they stay safe. “In the mornings they have their own way. They're like us: we wake up and want coffee; they want to go to dustbins to see what they can eat.” 

Wucherpfenning prefers to shepherd them to the zebra crossing, but other impromptu crossings may occur at different points along the main road.

“They are like family to me. Part of our history. I respect them and want to be around them.

“I see they are learning new things from us. The other day a male stood up, walking on his back legs with bread held in his front arms. It's the same with the juveniles — they remind me of me when I was a kid,” he said.

Wucherpfennig was unaware that he was an internet sensation until his boss shared the latest video views: “Suddenly everybody was messaging me saying, you are all over the internet. So I went onto the internet to check. At first it was over 5,000 views and I was laughing. Since then it has gone viral.”    

Caring for baboons comes naturally to Wucherpfennig, who grew up surrounded by animals on a farm near Bethal in Mpumalanga.

He stumbled into the monitoring job by accident after working as a stop-go-traffic assistant in Simon's Town. “My contract was finished. One guy I had worked with told me he was going to work with baboons, and I said please can you get me in with the baboons.” 

The rest is internet history.

Wucherpfennig believes he is able to calm the baboons by mimicking a particular noise they make. He enjoys mimicking other animals too.

As much as he gives the troop direction, he insists they have given his own life a direction since arriving largely destitute in Cape Town six years ago, hoping to start over after a few rough years. He is currently staying in the Happy Valley shelter on the outskirts of Simon's Town, a temporary arrangement until he is settled into his new life.

“People must try to respect the baboons, and not forget where we come from in our history,” he says.