The African Savanna Buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer)

Did you know that there are various species of buffalo to be found in Africa!  For example the African Savanna Buffalo or Cape Buffalo is also known by various colloquial names such as Nyati or Nbongo and varies in size, with the Southern African Buffalo being the largest and the North African one the smallest.

An adult bull is on average 1,4m to 1,6m tall at the shoulder and can attain a weight of around 750kg+ opposed to 650kg in the cow. Interestingly, the heaviest known bull in the Kruger National Park weighed 802kg/1765lbs. Buffalo are coarse grazers able to survive on relatively poor quality grass which they supplement with seed pods and occasionally with browse(leaves). Feeding is done mainly at night on tall and short grass. They are water dependent and drink about 35L of water daily, in the early morning and evening and are seldom found more than a few kilometers away from a water source. Their habit of spending the hot hours of the day in dense vegetation often makes it difficult to spot them, giving the impression that there are not many of them around in a game park or reserve. Their main competitors for food are White Rhino, Blue Wildebeest, Burchell Zebra and Elephant.

For millenia they have been able to co-exist with predators, including mankind, which have made the buffalo a very wary creature. In big game areas  where predators are present buffalo are constantly hounded. During the day, Wild Dog or Cape Hunting Dog often try to disrupt the herd and cut a youngster out for a quick meal, basically what lions do with elephant at night. By night, Hyaena are always present looking for the unwary calf that gets seperated too far from the herd and the Lions are also a constant threat. As a matter of interest, a single lion facing a “charged -up” buffalo has a formidable task in bringing down his prey. Unless he can surprise or outwit the buffalo in some way or another, he stands good chance of loosing his own life and when a herd is threatened by lions it forms a protective circle with the bulls on the perimeter. Lions will sometimes try and surprise and frighten the animals. In the stampede that follows, one is seperated from the herd and is then attacked. Once attacked, a buffalo will go down fighting fiercely and virtually to the last breath which is usually in a form of a coarse grunting sound. In many such instances the attacking lion/s have been seriously injured and even fatally wounded.

With this constant harassment and having to defend itself a lot of the time has made the buffalo such an alert and nervous animal. Man is no different in a buffalo’s estimation than any other predator. Humans are to be avoided where at all possible and run over, trampled, gored and squashed where opportunity presents itself. As they say, “Life’s hell at the bottom of the food chain”.

Buffalo are nevertheless inquisitive by nature and will readily make an unexpected appearance in order to make a positive identification of the intruder before dashing off to safety. Buffalo can live up to 22 years of age and bulls of 10 years and older form bachelor herds. Some old bulls prefer to dominate a small territory with permanent water and good grazing and seldom leave this area which may be as small as 3km2. Old bulls also like mud in which they wallow to keep ticks and flies off. These mud wallowing bulls are often referred to as “Daga Boys” and the word “mud” as we know it, is called “Daga” in some of the African languages.

Compiled by Sukulu Safaris CC information centre