Kasanka Baboon Project

"The Mission of the Kasanka Baboon Project is to create a long-term field site dedicated to the study of the Kinda baboon while providing capacity building in science education in the surrounding communities and public awareness of wildlife conservation."

Obviously, I'll be able to speak about the project in much more detail once I'm actually there! But for now, here's a very short piece on what I know about it so far...

The project is based at Kinda Camp near Fibwe Hide in Kasanka National Park. It was founded by Anna Weyher, and the camp (a low-impact, but permanent camp) construction was completed in 2009. The main aim of the project is to research Kinda baboons, as well as conserve them. There is a habituated troop within the area which are the focus of the research. This involves tracking and following the troop to record behavioural data. There is also research involving hormonal studies planned. 

Kinda baboons from the research troop (Photo from here)

The project is also involved in community work, an aspect I'm very interested in. There is involvement with the local school as well as the running of a Young Woman's Science and Math Club. Anna's aim is to involve the community in conservation as much as possible, given that these are the people that live there and will for generations to come. A little education can go a very long way as I have personally witnessed with vervet monkeys and Chacma baboons in South Africa. 

So the final countdown is under way and I will be in Kasanka in under 3 weeks now! I'm excited and scared, but overall I truly can't wait to be back in Africa doing what I love!

In the meantime Liz, the current camp manager, has sent me these ID sheets so that I can begin to learn the names of the current troop members (and hopefully begin to recognise them):

The current adult male baboons form the troop which I need to learn.

The current adult female baboons form the troop which I need to learn.

Kasanka National Park

Some information on Kasanka National Park, my soon-to-be home for the next year!

"Kasanka is Zambia’s first national park under private management and is entirely reliant on tourism revenue and charitable funding. It is a valuable conservation area with diverse flora and fauna including many endangered species and exceptional birdlife" - from Kasanka Trust Ltd.

Kasanka Baboon Project is located in Kasanka National Park in Central Zambia approximately 500km from the capital Lusaka. It is one of Zambia's smallest National Parks at just 390 sq. kilometres. Despite this however, there is an abundance of wildlife species (including endangered species) as well as habitats.

Screenshot of Google Maps showing the position of Kasanka National Park in Zambia (the red "A").

The view from Fibwe Hide (Photo from here)

Kinda Camp, where the project is based within the Park, is situated near to Fibwe Hide. Fibwe Hide is renowned for viewing Sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii), a reclusive swamp-dwelling antelope, which are quite numerous in the park.


 It gives panoramic views of the Kapabi swamp due to the Hide being situated 18 metres up a Mululu (Africa Mahogany) Tree. 

Fibwe Hide situated 18 metres up a Mululu Tree! (Photo from here)

Bat migration in Kasanka including up to 5 million bats! (Photo from here)

Kasanka also sees an annual congregation of up to 5 million Straw-coloured fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) from throughout Africa each November. They pack themselves into just one hectare! More on it here.

I  can't wait to see this spectacle!! 

108 mammal species have been recorded in the Park including elephants, hippos, puku, buffalo, Sable antelope, warthogs, leopards, side-striped jackals, caracals, servals, honey badgers, vervet monkeys, blue monkeys and of course Kinda baboons! There are also over 450 species of birds recorded in the Park.

I know some people despise Wikipedia, but the page on Kasanka has some great information!

Moving to Zambia

I have decided that receiving an amazing offer of a position at a baboon research project is reason enough to finally create (and stick to!) a blog!

Me with Poppy, an orphaned Chacma baboon (Papio ursinus), in South Africa in 2010.

My name is Aileen Sweeney and I am a recent (ahem, technically still yet to happen due to Uni pushing back graduation ceremonies...) zoology graduate from University College Cork in Ireland. I consider myself Irish despite being born and raised in Australia until I was 13. I have always had a passion for wildlife and the natural world around me, however it wasn't until my late teens that I realised this passion very much focused around conservation. I spent four years studying zoology, while volunteering for the summers of 2009, 2010 and 2011 at primate rehabilitation centres in South Africa (more on them in a later post). This included completing my Literature Review project on the genus Chlorocebus, as well as my Bachelor's thesis on infant vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) behaviour in a rehabilitation centre. My passion for wildlife has definitely become focused on primates. While I can technically call myself a "scientist", "biologist", "environmentalist", "zoologist" or probably even "ecologist" now, there are two more specific titles I hope to earn the right to use: "conservationist" and most importantly "primatologist". I think this next year will bring me both of those titles!

Kasanka Baboon Research Project, Zambia.

Having completed my degree and unsuccessfully applying for a Masters degree in Germany (despite achieving a first class honours degree- it was probably one of the biggest shocks/disappointments I've ever experienced) I became stumped as to what to do next. I didn't want to simply apply for other Masters, as if I didn't have enough interest to apply for them in the first place, why would I now?! Instead I decided to "hang tight", knowing that something would come my way and all would fall into place as it should. I travelled to Italy to au pair for a family for the summer and while there I came across an advert for a job in Zambia as Camp Manager at Kasanka Baboon Research Project. It was a real "this is it" moment for me. 

So after putting together my application and contacting referees for references (one of which referred to me as "somewhat monkey mad"- definitely helped me get the job!) I sent all the documents to Anna Wehyer, the Project's Founder and Director. About a week later (before the application deadline had even arrived!) I received an email inviting me to a Skype interview with Anna. On the day,we spoke for well over an hour and, not wanting to gear myself up for more disappointment, I decided to simply take from it that we were very like-minded people and primate research/conservation was definitely what I wanted to do. A few days later I received another email saying I had made it through to the final round of interviews and this time needed to speak with the current Camp Manager, Liz Winterton, so she could help Anna make the decision. I got on with Liz equally as well as I did with Anna, yet one again didn't allow myself to read into it too much other than we shared similar passions. However, three days later they offered me the job! I immediately burst into tears out of pure excitement and sheer terror! I really couldn't believe they had picked me, especially given both the experience and qualifications that I knew Liz had compared to mine. I am so excited, thankful and thrilled about this opportunity so soon after my BSc. 

So I'm currently in the crazy stage of preparing to leave- visas, work permits, flights, insurance, vaccinations, shopping...also brushing up on my knowledge of Zambia, baboons, field work etc. I will be flying out to Zambia barely 36 hours after my graduation ceremony on the 27th October. And then staying for a full year! Liz will be staying on until December with me to train me, and then after that it will be up to me to manage the project. It is technically a voluntary position as there is no salary (however all meals, lodging and travel costs are included), but the experience itself is payment enough! I will talk about the project in more detail later. Hopefully I will be able to keep this somewhat regularly updated, as I know there's a blog for the project that I will need to keep updated, as well as the Facebook Page- so two birds with one stone and all that!

I can't wait!!!

A group of Kinda baboons (Papio cynocephalus kindae) from the habituated troop I will be researching in Kasanka National Park.