Say again....?

"What did he say?" I asked. Ryan shook his head and said, "I don't know...all I got was that there is something crossing the runway." We were about 10 miles out of Kasane on a right base for runway 08. There are many things that are different about flying in Botswana and understanding ATC is one of the many challenges that we face. English is the official language of aviation and all of the controllers speak it but with varying degrees of accent. Some speak very clearly and others speak with a very heavy accent and far too quickly. This guy was one of the latter. "Ask him again", I requested. The controller's response to Ryan's inquiry was again fast and heavily accented but this time we were able to discern that there was a large group of some sort of animal moving across the runway from south to north and that we should keep a look out for them. As we rolled out on a four mile final I looked intently at the runway but couldn't see anything. "Do you see what he is talking about?" I asked Ryan. Again, a head shake and a "Nope". A moment later the controller solved the mystery with a surprisingly well enunciated transmission. "Mercy One, reccommend that you go around. There are still many baboons on and around the runway." Aha, baboons. As we got a little closer the the large troop of 30-40 baboons became visible as they loped across the runway. "Let him know that we are going to do a low pass to scare them off and then we'll go around and come back" I instructed. As Ryan did that I sucked up the gear and flaps and applied a little power while still maintaining a descent. I leveled at about 100 ft and pushed the engines up to full power as we approached the trespassing primates. However, the roar of the approaching airplane sent them scattering in all directions instead of clearing them off the runway as hoped. As we climbed out ATC advised that they were going to send out a truck to herd them off the runway and by the time we lined up for our second try we could see the entire troop disappearing into the woods on the north side of the airport in front of the airport's fire truck. Last week, it had been warthogs. Well, this sure isn't Wisconsin!