© Getty ImagesIf the Baboons haven't heard the telltale 'tweet' of the locking system, they sneak over and open the car door to plunder its contents
The highly intelligent animals lie in wait as tourists get out of their car to gaze at the view from Cape Peninsula - the thin finger of land in the south westernmost corner of South Africa that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean.
Then, if they haven't heard the telltale "tweet" of the locking system, they sneak over and open the car door to plunder its contents.
So many picnics have now been lost to the simian raiders that the local authorities are pushing the government to commission an official baboon warning road sign as they have done for hippos, elephants, warthogs and kudus.
Theuns Vivian, Cape Town's Destination Development Manager, said humans and baboons would get along fine provided they were equally aware of each other.
"People stop their vehicles, and the vehicles get damaged," he said.
"Or they get out of their vehicles, and these baboons are highly intelligent animals. They're waiting for the sound of the car alarm.
"If they don't hear the 'tweet' they make for the door.
"So the tourists get out of the vehicle, they stand amazed at the vista and the view, and the baboons go for the door, and say: 'well, that door's not locked'.
"They are so intelligent: they wait for the noise of the alarm system. So we need to educate our tourists."
He is also planning to erect "do and don't" signs around the Mother City warning visitors about the dangers of getting too close to the creatures.
"These are dangerous animals, and you still have people trying to pose for a photograph next to a baboon with fangs the size of a cheetah's," he said.
"We value our baboons, and we value our tourists. We'd like to have a nice symbiosis."
Environmentalists say the territory available to baboons on the peninsula has shrunk with the expansion of city, meaning the primates are regularly spotted in built-up areas.
Earlier this month, a 14-year-old baboon who had been named William by residents was executed by lethal injection after he was caught repeatedly housebreaking and terrorizing humans.
We have invaded their land and territory. We have the cut them off from social interaction between the various troupes. Without even trying to undersatnd their language and culture, we kill them. Sounds familiar hey!
We also demean them by saying that they are dangerous as the above article says so. They are not dangerous it is us that are dangerous. I have walked many times amoung the Cape Baboons. I have had the young ones come close enough to pull at my pants/trouser leg to provoke me to play.
If you mindlessly feed your face whilst they are around then you must expect a exuberant juvenile to want what you have and take it, others will then smile or laugh at the scene showing our eye teeth which is highly provocative.
The only attacks I have known is where they were screamed at for opening a trash can or where a man reacted and provoked a large male when he came home and found a troupe in his yard. The large male went into protection mode.
People even throw stons at them and of course they react.