All horns

In buffalo, both sexes have horns with the only difference being that males’ horns meet in the middle (in what is known as 'the boss’) whereas females' horns seem to grow out of the side of the head.

Buffalo have a reputation as the most dangerous and cunning of the Big 5. Many hunters will vouch for this. Coming face to face with a buffalo and looking into its eyes it becomes clear where the saying "Buffalo look at you as if you owe them money" comes from.

Buffalo and water

Buffalo will spend time in water or mud wallows when available. On the floodplains of the Okavango Delta groups of old males will often ‘hang out’ in a favourable area. If water and lush grass are available buffalo will not venture very far, even lying in the water during the heat of the day

Buffalo watching wild dog kill

Journal Entry, October 9, 1994

Wild dogs had just chased an impala through a herd of buffalo, killing it about 30m from the herd. The buffalo moved closer to watch what was happening. The herd stood watching, until the dogs finished and moved on.

"...the buffalo were stamping their feet at the dogs as they ripped at the carcass. One buffalo would take a few steps forward but a few dogs would move towards him and it would back away. It was not long before the carcass was clean and the dogs began to play as the buffalo moved off. Some vultures began to fly in."

"...The dogs all suddenly stopped and the adults ran towards the long grass. Before they reached the grass a hyena ran off and the dogs relaxed a little while keeping a weary vigil. After much licking and playing the dogs began to move off at intervals. When the last dog had left the vultures moved in, followed closely by the hyena."

Buffalo and eagle

When I first heard of fish eagles sitting on the backs of buffalo to obtain a vantage point for hunting, I presumed the person that told me the story was mistaken. My initial view was that an egret had been mistaken for an eagle, and that light or distance (or both) had caused the misunderstanding.

I held this view until the day I saw it for myself. I didn't have my camera with me at the time, and capturing this behaviour on film quickly became an obsession. The few times since that I have witnessed fish eagles propped on buffalo backs have been frustrating. The eagle would either fly off before I got close enough or the camera positioning was wrong. The only image I have to date was taken from a distance in the hope of providing some record of this behaviour.