The toughest animal of the Big 5, that is acknowledged by almost every single story-teller, hunter, writer and wildlife lover, is the African Cape buffalo. These have had an amazing come back from 150 years ago after the rinderpest decimated the herds by the tens of thousands to a mere 50 individuals in South Africa. There are now thousands of Cape buffalo all over South Africa and all the game parks have their share with Kruger National Park taking the lion’s share as its due. The way the Cape Buffalo herds operate is an education in itself and not for this blog. Here I want to talk about a specific type of Cape buffalo……… the dagga boy.
That’s an odd name what’s a dagga boy? Well dagga is the name of the slimy mud which is used to build mud huts by the Zulu people in the old days and this is exactly what these buffaloes are usually covered in. Dagga boys is the name given to old retired bachelor bulls who have left the herd. So no wives and kids or leadership responsibility, so they are just plain old retired and they answer to no one. We were trained to walk in the bush and you see a buffalo herd you find a safe, safe, safe spot. You see these guys you walk all the long way around. They are just that unpredictable. I remember a single file line of 8 of these buffalo were coming towards us across the plain about 100m away and I parked and waited for them to come . the Lead buffalo saw me in his way but did not deign to move even 6 inches out of his way to pass behind or in front of me. He led his gang of 8 straight up to my vehicle and stopped 1 foot away from the middle of the car. He had all of Africa to walk in but he chooses to do this. So then I had to start the car and reverse and let them pass. That’s attitude! ‘Hey punk… move this car out of my way’!
They are amazingly strong, they are completely fearless and have a real aggressive attitude. A single lion seeing a group of these boys will walk around them. They have already fought lions and killed lions their buddies and family have been killed by lions they themselves have been attacked by lions they have literally seen it all. If it actually comes to a few lions trying to hunt them they cant run but hey they can fight. They may run a little way to get into a better tactical position for a stand then they turn at bay and its almost like they are saying “Ok fellas we ready, bring it. Lets see what you got”.
Some of them are injured, most of them have Bovine TB, I am told by Park Rangers, but they have an indomitable spirit and they do not play.
