Nature has always got something new and exciting for anybody who is interested and wants the experience.
One morning while driving along the riverine section of the reserve, my tracker picked up fresh Buffalo tracks. As he explained it to the guests their excitement grew, as this would be the first 'Big 5' animal they would see.
Everyone wanted to spot the first Buffalo, but luck was on me that day as I saw a female walking along one of the paths that lead to a waterhole. As we followed her down I noticed that she had blood under her tail. I had seen it often when I was herding my dads' cattle, so I knew she had given birth recently.
The cow didn't seem bothered by us as she kept following the path and sniffing the ground. She was following the track of the other buffalo, and after 5 minutes caught up with the rest of the herd. There were a few new borns along with their mothers grazing and slowly heading the water. Everyone was excited about seeing the babies as they were very cute, and all were taking photographs.
I noticed that among the calves there was one that seemed confused and was heading towards the landrover. As we watched it we noticed that it was still wobbly and wet all over, and still had the umbilical cord, being born only a few minutes ago. While we were watching this new life, we started to get worried as the herd had began to move off, with the cow that we thought could be the mother, leaving the poor calf in our attendance. We decided to follow the herd to the waterhole, and I asked my tracker to keep an eye and the calf, and to our surprise, he followed us. The calf followed us all the way to the waterhole. The herd began to wallow and drink, and soon the cow we thought could be the mom, finished drinking and started to head back along the path it had come on. The calf was still behind us, bleating trying to find its mom, but all the other calves were doing the same, so it was difficult to distinguish the calls. The 'mother' walked passed the vehicle, ignoring the calf, we thought that this could be the first time she's given birth and therefore didn't know what to do.
We were soon proved wrong as it started to sniff the ground and come straight back to the vehicle and lowed softly. The calf responded to the call and went straight to its mom, they met, and the calf went underneath and started to suckle for the first time. All the guests laughed with joy, and took lots of photo's to remember the reunion. We left the sighting excited, and relieved, that the calf was not alone, and now the mom was going to teach it how to live under the harsh conditions in the African bush.
One morning while driving along the riverine section of the reserve, my tracker picked up fresh Buffalo tracks. As he explained it to the guests their excitement grew, as this would be the first 'Big 5' animal they would see.
Everyone wanted to spot the first Buffalo, but luck was on me that day as I saw a female walking along one of the paths that lead to a waterhole. As we followed her down I noticed that she had blood under her tail. I had seen it often when I was herding my dads' cattle, so I knew she had given birth recently.
The cow didn't seem bothered by us as she kept following the path and sniffing the ground. She was following the track of the other buffalo, and after 5 minutes caught up with the rest of the herd. There were a few new borns along with their mothers grazing and slowly heading the water. Everyone was excited about seeing the babies as they were very cute, and all were taking photographs.
I noticed that among the calves there was one that seemed confused and was heading towards the landrover. As we watched it we noticed that it was still wobbly and wet all over, and still had the umbilical cord, being born only a few minutes ago. While we were watching this new life, we started to get worried as the herd had began to move off, with the cow that we thought could be the mother, leaving the poor calf in our attendance. We decided to follow the herd to the waterhole, and I asked my tracker to keep an eye and the calf, and to our surprise, he followed us. The calf followed us all the way to the waterhole. The herd began to wallow and drink, and soon the cow we thought could be the mom, finished drinking and started to head back along the path it had come on. The calf was still behind us, bleating trying to find its mom, but all the other calves were doing the same, so it was difficult to distinguish the calls. The 'mother' walked passed the vehicle, ignoring the calf, we thought that this could be the first time she's given birth and therefore didn't know what to do.
We were soon proved wrong as it started to sniff the ground and come straight back to the vehicle and lowed softly. The calf responded to the call and went straight to its mom, they met, and the calf went underneath and started to suckle for the first time. All the guests laughed with joy, and took lots of photo's to remember the reunion. We left the sighting excited, and relieved, that the calf was not alone, and now the mom was going to teach it how to live under the harsh conditions in the African bush.
Sandiso Shabangu - Field Guide