Dagga Boy! An old, grumpy, male Cape Buffalo… Ready to drop their head, give one last charge, and crush anything with their boss (that big bone shield on their head formed by their horns) .
These old bulls get the name dagga from black mud that they roll around in to protect their balding hides from sunburn. They move slowly in old age and form bachelor groups that are separate from the rest of the herd. You’ll often see them hanging out near water where the soft grass is easy for them to chew with their worn down teeth. Slow. Worn teeth. Balding. No wonder their grumpy.
On our sunset drive in the Kruger National Park, just outside the gate, we ran into a bunch of Dagga Boys. They were near the road and being one of the Big 5, our driver/guide, Chester, stopped.
This is why you go on one the Park’s game drives or bush walks: he immediately saw something out of place. His experience and knowledge told him that something wasn’t right. There was a female with the Dagga Boys. He pointed her out, but said that he wasn’t sure why she was with them.
She is in the foreground in this picture:
He was saying that maybe she was old too, but even then, he had never seen that. Then she turned and walked off with the bulls, slowly moving into the bush. She was limping. On her back right leg was a pretty good sized wound and the limp made her too slow to keep up with the herd, but kept her at the pace of the dagga boys.
If it would’ve been just us in our vehicle, we may have missed the cow with these daggas. The larger group of the herd was up a few meters and on the other side of the road. We would’ve stopped for pictures on both groups and assumed that it was just buffalo crossing the road and ticked one off of the Big 5 sightings…
Take a holiday in the Kruger National Park, and when you do, book some of the Park’s activities. Listen to the guides, ask them questions… We have learned about and seen natural things that we wouldn’t have otherwise…
Poetry Overland 