African buffalo

How do you identify an African buffalo?

A stocky black bovine, 1.7 meters at the shoulder and up to 900 kg. Its curved horns meet on the forehead of adult males in a thick helmet, the boss. The ears are wide and fringed with hair, and the muzzle is always wet. Nothing else in the parks looks like it. The wildebeest is smaller, with a beard and a mane, and the eland, paler, has straight horns. A buffalo covered in mud is a male that has just wallowed to protect itself from the sun and from parasites.

How does the African buffalo live?

The buffalo lives in herds of several dozen to several hundred head, females, young and a few males, which graze at night and in the early morning, then chew the cud in the shade. It has to drink every day and never strays far from water and swamps. Old males leave the herd and live alone or in small groups, in the tall grass near rivers. The buffalo is the favorite prey of large lion prides, in Ruaha above all, and a herd will turn on them to defend a calf.

Where and when can you see buffalo on safari?

You see buffalo everywhere: on a safari circuit, it is the Big Five animal you will almost never miss. In Tanzania, the herds of Ngorongoro Crater graze on the short grass in broad daylight, in every season. From June to October, thousands of buffalo arrive in Tarangire, and hundreds gather on the Nyerere floodplains. In Ruaha, the lions then follow them to the pools of the Great Ruaha River.

In Kenya, buffalo spend the hot hours in the Amboseli swamps. In Tsavo East, they come by the hundreds to drink at the Galana River in the dry season. At Lake Nakuru, a fenced park, they stay on the grassland of the south shore all year round.

In South Africa, Kruger's buffalo live in the center and north of the park, and graze by the hundreds at Pafuri. In Sabi Sand, the dry season, from May to October, brings them together in large herds. When a 4x4 pulls up, a herd raises its heads, watches for a long time, then goes back to grazing. Watch a lone bull from the vehicle, at a safe distance, with the engine running.

Is the African buffalo endangered?

The IUCN lists the buffalo as Near Threatened. It remains abundant in the big parks, but it has disappeared from most unprotected land. Livestock diseases, rinderpest in the 19th century and tuberculosis today, have wiped out entire populations. Fences and hunting shrink its range outside the reserves. In Tanzania, the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Nyerere still hold large herds.