Southern Africa - Day 19 (Part 2)

Friday, 31 January 2020 - Botswana 

Hippos are amphibians, and they have no real sweat glands. Instead, they secrete a thick, red substance from their pores known as "blood sweat," which sometimes makes it look pinkish (it is neither blood nor sweat). The blood sweat creates a layer of mucous that protects hippo skin from sunburn and keeps it moist. They are prone to dehydration, that’s why they spend most of the time in the water.

I asked Emanuel why the hippo is not in the Big 5 and why the Cape buffalo is. He explained that the the Big 5 are big animals that are difficult to hunt. Apparently where most animals will run for their lives when you try and hunt them, the Big 5 will run towards the danger and attack the attacker. And also, nobody really hunts hippos or giraffes 😅. Ok, now it starts to make sense. 

On the island I also saw palm trees, the fox tail sage, pretty pretty grass everywhere, eagles, storks, pelicans and herons. 

Then we continued in the mokoro until we reached another island; this is where we go on foot to look for animals. It’s quite cool; in Africa I’ve looked for animals whilst on a truck, on a plane, in a mokoro and now on foot! 😁The ground rule was to follow Emanuel in single file (animals get confused with this, they think it’s a big thing moving instead of seeing the individuals) and follow everything he says. One guide (Julius) stayed with our food, water and some other stuff the others wanted to leave behind, and all 4 of us followed Emanuel into the delta. 

There were plenty of termite mounds around, some even going up more than 2 metres!!! Termites, elephants and hippos are keystone species. A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance ie animals that make a difference to the ecosystem. Elephants and hippos clear new areas and create new pathways for other animals to move about; termite mounds are used by other animals as look out points (lions and cheetahs) or nests (birds). 

Then we saw a species of antelopes known as red lechwes (maybe this is what I saw in Ghanzi???), a warthog running in the distance and some Tsessebe which are the fastest antelopes in Africa (possibly the world). Unfortunately we could only see all these animals from a distance; when you try to go nearer they stare at you and when they think you’re in their space they run away. I don’t blame them. Plenty of predators around. 

Then I was walking with Emanuel with the others a bit behind, when suddenly he held my arm and said very quietly, “Buffalo. Don’t move.” There in the bushes, some 50 m away, was a Cape buffalo staring right at us. At that moment I experienced the fight or flight response. Adrenalin which made my heart beat faster, and I was ready to run for my life. Emanuel signalled to the others to slowly retreat, but we were still rooted to the spot. I whispered to him, “Run?” He said “Never run. Walk back slowly” and we did. And all the while the horrid buffalo was just staring right at us from within the bushes. Oh, that was really scary!!!

So let me tell you why Cape buffaloes are so difficult to hunt. First of all, they are always hiding in the bushes. When someone comes near, they attack with their horns and kill them. Quite sneaky if you ask me. The best thing to do when being chased by a Cape buffalo is to lie flat on the ground. Even then you’re not safe because they will stomp on you but at least you have a chance of surviving. But then, after they stomp on you and you are lying motionless, they will pee on you and then they wait. 

The reason they do this is because the pee makes you itch, and if you move to scratch the itch, they continue stomping on you until you’re dead. If a buffalo manages to escape a snare, they don’t run away but wait around there, hiding, because they know the person who put the snare there will eventually come back and then they attack! What an animal!! So now I can accept the Cape buffalo as one of the Big 5. Later I told Clever this and he asked me why I listened to Emanuel but not to him and I told him because Emanuel gave me a sensible answer whereas Clever just kept saying the buffalo is dangerous. He rolled his eyes 😂.