Unwanted visitor occupies an apartment's rooftop in Nakuru's estate

I've heard tales of baboons causing trouble in estates but I used to think they were exaggerated, until it happened close to home.

For the past two weeks, I've been finding my garbage bags torn and trash scattered everywhere. 

Initially, I suspected a neighbour’s dog had gone rogue but interestingly, it wasn’t just my trash; my neighbour’s garbage was also scattered. 

You see at the apartment, all of us put our trash outside so that it can be collected on trash day.

Back to the scattered garbage, I didn't think much of it until my house manager informed me that a baboon was responsible, which brought both fear and chaos.

I learnt that this primate has been invading our apartment at 10 am, entering through the rooftop, and sitting on a raised platform by the water tanks to survey if anyone is outside. 

It then descends to the apartment floors, opening trash bags like it's on a scavenger hunt.

These big-bummed intruders ruthlessly tear through bags from the third floor to the first, searching for anything edible. 

They rip things apart, smell them, and discard anything that doesn't appeal to their taste buds. The worst is when they tear into baby diapers.

When we try to chase it away, it becomes defensive and acts like it wants to pounce on you. I’ve had to repeatedly clean and wash my veranda to get rid of the scattered trash, as nothing is off-limits to them.

To combat this, we have made friends with local boda boda riders to help us throw stones at the baboons as a new sport.

My house manager has even suggested getting stand-by stones to throw at the primate since she believes to be a master in the art of stone-throwing.

We can only hope that soon the baboon gets bored of our apartment and goes away so we can return to enjoying the rooftop and hanging clothes without fear of encountering it.