Late one morning while in the Hwange National Preserve in Zimbabwe, I was with friends and our guide Sean, looking for wildlife near a “pan”, which is a large shallow watering hole. These are prime places to see a variety of animals in Africa. When we arrived, not much was going on, so we unloaded some folding chairs and decided to wait and see what developed. Sean said to watch the baboons as they are always on lookout and sensitive to the presence of predators (like lions).
Soon there was a noticeable agitation in the baboon troop. As we scanned the horizon, we saw a long black line forming. Something big was coming over the rise. The line quickly became bigger and wider. We could see dust being kicked up as it moved in our direction. Through the binoculars we saw the leading edge of a huge herd of Cape Buffalo heading to the water. When the first buffalo reached the water, the rest were still coming over the horizon. Sean estimated 600-700 head of buffalo.
The Cape Buffalo is listed as one the “Big Five” animals that could pose the greatest risk to humans in the wild. They are huge, powerful and unpredictable. On this occasion they were also thirsty and so reaching the water was their only objective. From a safe distance, we started to relax and just enjoy the scene that was unfolding before us. So did the baboons.
