A close-up of a young Khibidu baboon with large ears and expressive eyes, looking directly at the camera. Its brown and black fur contrasts with the softly blurred background, inviting you into its story.
Two baboons sit on the ground, one cradling a baby, while antelope legs in the foreground partially obscure the Baboons Story. The scene unfolds in a natural, wild setting.
A baboon named Khibidu closely examines and gently holds a small, light-colored bird in its hand, with the bird lying still on its back. The softly blurred background draws focus to this tender story of connection.

Khibidu – A Baboon’s Story

Nature & Wildlife·1 x 50 min·In Development

From clinging to her mother to facing down danger, Khibidu's story is a wild, emotional journey into baboon life

Factsheet
Genre
Nature & Wildlife
Duration
1 × 50 min
Definition
4K
Audio
5.1
Status
In Development
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Synopsis

In the rugged wilderness of Botswana’s Mashatu Game Reserve, a baby baboon named Khibidu is born into a world of beauty, danger and complex family dynamics.

Her name means “reddish” in Setswana – the colour of a newborn baboon’s ears. But Khibidu is more than just a fragile infant. She’s a symbol of survival in one of Africa’s most demanding ecosystems.

Khibidu’s world is shaped by towering Mashatu trees, which feed and shelter her troop. But danger lurks in the branches too. A female leopard shares the same territory – a silent, stalking presence in the baboons’ daily lives. While leopards and baboons are ancient enemies, the wild has no borders, and both must navigate a tense co-existence.

Khibidu’s journey begins clinging to her mother’s belly, utterly dependent, completely vulnerable. Over the course of a single year, she must learn to walk, climb, play and survive. Her father, once the troop’s alpha male, now watches over her fiercely – protecting her from predatory threats, marauding rival males and even from adolescent baboon bullies within the troop.

Within this troop lies a complex social order. Females inherit their rank from their mothers, and Khibidu’s future is already written into this hierarchy. She must learn her place – but also when to challenge it. As she grows, her greatest struggles won’t only come from predators or drought, but from navigating the intricate rules of family and status.

In many ways, Khibidu’s life mirrors our own. She throws tantrums, plays games, tests boundaries. She is curious, mischievous, and full of personality. Her relationships are full of joy and tension, loyalty and rivalry. She must learn to communicate, to choose friends wisely and to sense danger even when it hides in the trees.

KHIBIDU – A BABOON’S STORY is a coming-of-age story told from the intimate viewpoint of its small protagonist. Through her eyes, we are invited deep into baboon society – a place governed by kinship, intelligence, and resilience. Bringing the fascinating heart of baboon society into our living rooms, her coming-of-age story is by turns funny and sad, intimate and epic; as it reveals the fragility of young life, and the strong family ties that help a baboon survive, against great odds.

Team

Produced and directed by Magdel Vorster, Wim Vorster, Birgit Peters
Executive producer Sabine Holzer
Production companies A Wild Web Africa / Terra Mater Studios production
Footage rights

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