The lonely, old buffalo bulls are often referred to as “Dagga boys”. Dagga means mud in Zulu and these old bulls spend a lot of their time wallowing in mud to keep the parasites at bay. They have been kicked out of the herd by younger, more virile males. We came across many lonely old bulls during our trip in the Kruger National Park recently. They all seemed to have a sad, longing look about them.
We also came across a huge buffalo herd. There must have been over 100 of them, varying in size. Some stopped to look at us and give us the buffalo stare. Buffalo are considered one of the “Big Five”. This classification has nothing to do with size and everything to do with difficulty to hunt the animal. Buffalo are notoriously quick-tempered and “hard to read”, making them unpredictable and extremely dangerous.
The red and yellow hues of the mopani trees brought a spark of colour to the otherwise drab, brown African bush, and the buffalo stand out brilliantly against this backdrop. I felt incredibly privileged to have spent time watching these proud, amazing animals.
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- Buffalo stand on the road in the Kruger National Park huddled against the cold, rainy day
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- A comical image of a young buffalo with a “grass hat”
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- A buffalo lifts his nose to smell the air
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- Handsome looking buffalo
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- Buffalo sniffing the air
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- Big horns
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- Buffalo grazing
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- A buffalo looks up at us
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- A herd of buffalo walk in the thick bush of the Kruger National Park
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- Following the herd, a buffalo walks swiftly to catch up
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- You looking at me?
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- A buffalo lowers his head to drink from a puddle of water on the road
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- Portrait of a young buffalo
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- A buffalo looks up from his meal
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- He turns to listen and look closer
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- A herd of buffalo are totally relaxed as they graze and look up
Dori Moreno Photography 