Archive for the ‘Buffaloes’ Category
In most of Africa, wild buffoloes are seen as very dangerous animals to be avoided. In Lulimbi however, the locals do not seem too concerned by the herds of buffaloes that regularly come to graze very close to their houses:
Buffaloes at the Ranger Station
Buffaloes on the soccer field
Children trying to impress me!
This is a new technique used by poachers that we have just come across in Ishango.
It doesn’t look as harmful as it can be The poachers lay this on the ground over a hole that they have dug. They also lay a metal ring (like the snares I have shown you before) round the hole at the centre of the star. All this is left on paths used by animals like antelope.
When the animal walks on the trap, its leg goes into the hole and is caught by this trap above and the snare. The snare catches the animal round the lower leg (because of the hole), as opposed to the hoof, thus making it more effective, for the poachers, because the animal cannot get away.
We collected this trap recently on patrol. A patrol done with your donations. I know it is usually used near Kasindi, near the Ugandan border. I do not know if it is a Ugandan technique, but it is the first time we have found it in the park. This kind of trap can catch not just antelope but also waterbuck and buffalo.
I am sad to announce the death of the solitary buffalo.
I mentioned it in my video update a couple of days ago, but here is the picture.
There was a landslide and he fell from the cliff.
We believe he landed face down on a stone, and died instantly. We found his body about 3 or 4 days after he had died. We were also able to see the metal wire stuck in his paw that made him limp. Remember I had mentioned this on the post.
We will leave his body there. There is not much more we can do. I will return at a later date to recover the skull. Those kinds of thing are very useful for teaching material.
We were all sad that he died, as we had grown accustomed to him being here.
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