Baboons steal grapes from South African vineyards

Travel

Baboons are running wild through South African vineyards, eating expensive grapes and costing wine growers tens of thousands of dollars.

Perhaps this baboon has a guilty conscience as he runs away from a vineyard on the Constantia Uitsig wine estate located in Cape Town, South Africa. More likely, he was scared off by a rubber snake, one of the tactics the wine growers use to rid their vineyards of the trespassers. Hungry primates in the area have set their sights on the region's premium grapes.

Baboons run through a vineyard on the Constantia Uitsig wine estate situated on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. Baboons are already accused of car-jacking Cape Town tourists in search of food. Winemakers say the rampaging troops of primates are also munching their fill of premium grapes in the region's famous Winelands area.

Apparently, humans aren't the only ones who appreciate the bounty of South African vineyards. Baboons love the combination of starch and sugar the grapes offer.

A Baboon makes itself comfortable while noshing on grapes at a vineyard on the Constantia Uitsig wine estate located on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa.

Wine growers in South Africa are facing a new threat in the form of baboons. In the Constantia wine-producing area alone, up to $34,800 worth of the crop has been lost annually. The growers say the picky primates are partial to sweet pinot noir grapes, which sell for more than other grapes.

Wait, they were just eating grapes off the vine, not drinking the final product, right? These baboons fall out of a tree as they play at a dam next to the Constantia Uitsig wine estate situated on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. In fact, the primates can get a bit tipsy from ingesting grape skins which have fermented in the sun. At least we don't have to worry about them driving.

Here, baboons are seen skirmishing in the water at a dam next to the Constantia Uitsig wine estate located on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. Perhaps the sugars in the grapes gave them an extra energy boost.

This baboon looks to be pondering his next selection of grapes to consume while foraging in the Constantia Uitsig wine estate in Cape Town, South Africa. Apparently they only eat the sweet grapes and discard the sour ones on the ground.

Seen here is a baboon foraging for grapes at vineyards on the Constantia Uitsig wine estate situated on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa.

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Perhaps this baboon has a guilty conscience as he runs away from a vineyard on the Constantia Uitsig wine estate located in Cape Town, South Africa. More likely, he was scared off by a rubber snake, one of the tactics the wine growers use to rid their vineyards of the trespassers. Hungry primates in the area have set their sights on the region's premium grapes.

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