On the hunt
Yes, buffalo tales have been told and re-told around the African campfire since man began hunting the beasts, and many of these have appeared in magazines and blogs dedicated to our love of buffalo hunting. But how much of it is true and how much is just simple lore, embellished to give the buffalo demon-like qualities, and unstoppable powers? Let's see if we can separate fact from fiction and give our hunting brethren a look at old ‘Black Death' and see if this gentleman really deserves his dark reputation.
I am the owner/director of Ken Moody Safaris, a close corporation opened in South Africa in 1994, and since that time have had the privilege of conducting around 400 hunts for Cape buffalo. While most of my safaris have been in South Africa, I've also hunted Zimbabwe for twelve years and Mozambique for eight, all for buffalo as the primary species. In Zim, I've hunted buff in the Omay, Dande, Chirisa, Matetsi, Gokwe, and the Beitbridge areas, and in Mozambique, I mostly hunted Coutada 10 and other areas bordering KNP. South Africa has found me hunting buffalo in seven of the nine provinces, mostly the Limpopo, NorthWest, and Kwa-Zulu Natal. I offer the above as only an indication of my experience hunting these animals and knowledge gained in doing so. I know buffalo, but if anyone, regardless of their level of experience, claims to know it all, they are lying.
So, what made Cape buffalo so different from their bovine brethren?
That can be summed up in one word: environment. Unlike other species of wild cattle, the Cape buffalo lives in a hostile world. The environment that is home to the African buffalo is also home to an array of predators including lion, wild dogs, hyena, and others, that single out sick, weak, or young buffalo and hound them until they can kill and eat.
Then, there's man that hunts them for sport
