Buffalo

We had a fruitful morning walk up the almost dry Miuro River within Chuilexi Conservancy. It provided an excellent perspective for our visiting donor as signs of elephant, buffalo and all predators were plentiful. It demonstrates that away from roads and human activity, game is plentiful and protection efforts are succeeding. As wildlife has been made so skittish by poaching, it disappears at a hint of noise. Some elephants have even switched to become completely nocturnal as a result. In safari terms this place is the polar opposite of visiting Kruger or Serengeti, where cheetahs practically use vehicle roofs as lookout spots, and lions remove ticks by scratching on tyres. Here we have only seen one elephant during the week, today across the wide Lugenda River, gallivanting in the bushes on the other side. Most other things skitter off timidly.

Buffalo are usually the thing to avoid in the bush, as they are prone to act aggressively, especially when old lone males are surprised. We almost walked into one resting on the riverbed, in the shade of overhanging vegetation. It was an excellently chosen spot, to his credit. Our experienced scout knew what to do: retreat, carve a wide path, whistle to alert the buffalo to our presence, wait patiently as the buffalo sniffed the air and only proceed once it had trotted off into dense bush. A buffalo can’t be rushed and I’ve heard of too many buffalo goring incidents to take chances.