Since the posting on Youtube of the “Battle at Kruger” on May 3, 2007 no discussion of the Cape buffalo can begin without referring to the spectacle. It was videotaped by a Texas resident David Budzinski. A pride of lions grabbed a buffalo calf and ended up in the river and crocodiles and lions were at the calf. The lions did manage to pull the calf out of the river and lo and behold a herd of buffaloes swept in and ran the lions off and saved their calf. It appeared shook up but otherwise seemed pretty intact. This fairly well summarizes the character and temperament of the Cape buffalo, stolid, implacable and fearless.

The Cape buffalo is one of the Big Five in the Serengeti and is a ‘must see” on any photo safari. The buffaloes when full grown are huge, weighing between 2000 and 3000 pounds. These mammals are grazers and belong to the Bovid family. Besides buffaloes other animals that belong to the bovid class are cows, yaks and big horn sheep. The Cape buffaloes are very different from the Asian buffaloes which are placid predictable animals and readily domesticated. The African buffaloes are unpredictable intractable and cannot be domesticated. They are prized as trophies by big game hunters.

These big strong mammals are found all over Africa, in the savannah, the plains, the hills and the forests. The large bulls can often be seen wandering through the Serengeti grazing, all alone and left unmolested by the predators. The females and the calves stick to herds and the calves are kept in the middle and well protected by the adults. The members of the herd stick close together when grazing and when going to the watering holes. This is when the calves are most vulnerable and can become separated and picked off by a predator. The buffaloes do not take it lightly when one of their own is killed and put up a great fight and many times they come out the victors. They overpower by their bravery, their size and numbers. The males form bachelor herds and hang around the periphery of the large herds of females and calves. Male calves are ejected from the herd by their mothers when they turn two years old.

Buffaloes have manes like lions, beards like goats. They sport humps like camels and horns like cows. They have large heads, short necks, broad shoulders and tufted tails. They are large animals and their lumbering gait is unmistakable in the Serengeti. They are seen in a range of colors, reddish brown to darker brown and occasionally almost black. They have crescent horns, large eyes with a piercing gaze and a stern facial expression. When speed is important, buffaloes can sprint at speeds up to 35 miles per hour. They can be formidable opponents. Buffaloes have keen senses of smell and hearing. Their vision is not so acute and less useful for protecting themselves.

Gestation period lasts 11 and ½ months and most of the calves are born in the early part of the rainy season. Cows begin having calves at five years of age. The calves stay with their mothers for a full year. They are nudged aside when the cow has her next calf. The males are pushed out of the herd at two years of age and join bachelor herds. Males mature at six or seven years of age and then they begin the search for a mate that will accept them. Males spar and fight for the attentions of females frequently, the calves spar in play. Adult females do not indulge in sparring and avoid the snorting, bobbing of heads, threatening with bent heads and jabbing with horns that is such a big part of the lives of the adult males and all the calves.

Cape buffaloes are thriving in Africa and their numbers are estimated to be around a million animals. The herds are a sight to behold and their cooperation and closeness is touching. The large bulls traversing the Serengeti, all by themselves are given a wide berth by the other inhabitants of the Savannah and they are indeed an awe inspiring sight. The cows and their tending their calves with gentleness and care all day long is delightful to witness. These mammals are in their natural habitat interacting with one another and going about their lives, calmly and with the complete confidence of being in their element in the African wilderness. It is a sight to behold and celebrate.

Visitors to the Serengeti through the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century did not have to wonder if they would see a rhinoceros in the savannah or the hills. The animals were present in abundance and rhinos were seen wandering around in the manner in which they had lived in Africa for 4 million years. The bulls leading their isolated, solitary lifestyle could be seen ambling leisurely in the tall grassy areas grazing every morning and evening. They could be seen easily as they went to the watering holes. Females with a calf were a frequent sight, the calf walking happily in front of the mother and being watched closely and with fierce protectiveness by its mother. The hunter merely had to load and shoot and load and shoot another and then another, no limits set on how many were killed by each individual hunter. The population of rhinos in Serengeti was being decimated quite unobserved and unremarked by the officials in charge, first German colonial officials and then the British. Policies remained unchanged, until the Serengeti National Park was established in 1939. In the fifties the rhino population was close to extinction in the Serengeti. And an official declaration was made to that effect.

At one time the entire African continent was home to these large mammals with their huge heads, their impressive two horned faces, humped necks, broad shoulders and thick skin draped over their bodies in huge folds. Rhinos are pachyderms like elephants and hippos. In Africa two different kinds of rhinos are found in the wild, the white rhino and the black rhino. The white rhinos are larger than the black rhinos. White rhinos get to be about 6 feet tall and weigh between 3500 and 4500 pounds. Black rhinos are slightly smaller and get to be 5 feet tall and weigh between 2000 and 3000 pounds.

The rhino’s horn is especially important to identify the animal and it is also the reason why rhinos are hunted ruthlessly and against so many laws and restrictions until the white rhino is endangered and black rhino is in a worse plight and is critically endangered. Rhinos have short stubby legs and they look deceptively clumsy. They have three toed feet and most of the weight is borne by the big center toes. When startled, scared or angry they can gallop at speeds up to 30 miles per hour.

Rhinos have great hearing and smell but their eyesight is poor. They use their sense of smell to decide whether to charge or not. The white rhino has a broad mouth and grazes on grass and leaves, the black rhino has a pointed mouth with a finger like mouth with which it can pick leaves off a branch or pick up leaves and grass. Rhinos browse for food in the mornings and the evenings. During the hot part of the day they stay in the shade and cool down. They can sleep standing or lying down. They need between 15 and 20 gallons of water daily. Rhinos enjoy water and swim in the hot weather to cool down.

Rhinos communicate with one other by sound, by spraying urine and by dung heaps. They are solitary creatures and males and females live separate lives. When a female is ready to mate the male will follow her and they spend up to five days together then they go their separate ways. Males do not help the female raise the calves. The female does all the parenting and protecting of her calf entirely on her own. Gestation period is about 16 to 18 months and then she gives birth in tall grass and hides the calf for a few days. At birth the calf weighs between 80 and 140 pounds. Calves suckle for one year during that year they watch and learn grazing like the adults. They continue to stay with their mothers until they are 3 years old. Then the mother nudges the calf to go off on its own, find its own territory and make its own way in the wild. Rhinos can live for 40 years and do so routinely in captivity. However in the wild they are shot by poachers that almost none manage to live for even half of their life span.

Rhino horns are used in Chinese traditional medicines as an aphrodisiac and the prices for a pound of rhino horn is close to five times the price of a pound of gold. The temptation is huge and poachers eagerly and willingly take risks to kill rhinos. International bans on poaching have had no noticeable impact on the killing.

In the 1950s it was announced that rhinos were almost extinct in the Serengeti. In the 1961 a Rhino translocation program was begun. Six black rhinos were moved from the Serengeti to South Africa for heir protection from the poachers who were running amok in the Serengeti. In the 1980s a pregnant female rhino was brought to the Serengeti from Ngorongoro Crater. Slowly other rhinos were reintroduced. Rhinos give birth once in three years and usually have only one calf. There have been births and more additions and now there are seventeen rhinos in the Serengeti. The number is miniscule and the species is at great risk.

There are many organizations helping to promote education and legislation and god willing the species will be brought back from the brink of extinction. The rhinos are kept in a separate and safe enclosure and visitors are not permitted to get into the reserved area. Occasionally one of the rhinos may be seen wandering outside the enclosure in the plains and can be seen by tourists. It is a rare treat in the Serengeti.

On Friday May 21 2010, 6 black rhinos arrived by a Hercules C 130 cargo aircraft and landed at the Serengeti National Park. A total of 32 rhinos are being brought to the Serengeti. This project is a partnership between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania National Parks, South Africa Natural Parks and the Frankfurt Zoological Society. These black rhinos are related to those animals that were sent to South Africa in 1961. The hope is that the rhinos will live and breed in the wild in the Serengeti and increase in numbers gradually. Hopefully in our lifetime the Rhino reintroduction program and anti poaching regulations will be successful and seeing a rhino in the wild will once again become a commonplace occurrence in the Serengeti.