On Monday when I checked on the positions of my satellite collared buffalo, I realised that several of them were in areas that were relatively easy to access, along the Gomoti. I first headed south of MTC on our side of the channel to look for Nokya. I tried to go along the edge of the floodplains but was turned back by the water, which is still very high despite having dropped considerably recently. I have been told that my reports are less exciting than they used to be, but I am afraid that I will still avoid getting stuck if possible even if that means a little less adventure!
We found another road going around and managed to upset a few daggaboys, one of which had very pointy horns, but they left us alone after a while. I got a strong signal from Nokya, unfortunately it was coming from the other side of a sizeable channel. I found a nice sandbar in one place, but the approach to the other bank was very muddy and headed straight into trees, so I had to give up.
We drove up past MTC and headed for the Gomoti crossing, as the other herds were on the other side of the channel. We crossed without problems and headed off downstream to the GPS point that I had for the herd on that side (Bambi). We bumped into another herd of around 80 (including some rather ugly cows) shortly after crossing, so we counted them and collected faecal samples. I then checked for any collars and got a very strong signal from B6 coming from the other side of the riparian belt we were next to. So we pottered around and found another 200 - 300 buff, which we also counted. We then continued down and bumped into another herd of 150 - 200, which were very relaxed and co-operative, all walking slowly past a bush so I could count them properly. We left them and continued south. I spotted a bull poking his nose out from the riparian woodland next to a few very large elephants, and that is where we found yet another herd, this one with Bambi and B3 in it, of around 400 - 500 animals. They were all resting up but moved away after we watched them for a while. I collected some faecal samples and came back out onto the floodplains, only to find the herd about the cross the channel. They started off slowly, but quickly picked up speed and started running across my field of vision. I missed quite a few of them but was able to collect data from a decent number of individuals.
All in all, it was a great day filled with buffalo and faecal samples. When we got back, Kevin had been out flying the microlight and confirmed that there were lots of buffalo on the Gomoti, having seen several other herds that I hadn't. They seem to be coming together to form large herds in similar areas, possibly as the floodplains dry up and forage becomes scarcer, forcing them to utilise the same areas.
Before we went out buffalo counting on Monday, we were treated to Matthew's pack of wild dogs coming into the water hole in front of camp, so we sat for a while and watched the pups playing and stalking guinea fowl. A successful cheetah darting took place on Monday as well, adding a new female to the collared population. I believe that she is currently up by Black Pools. Another group of cheetah was seen on the same day, which consisted of one adult female with 3 almost fully grown cubs - two males and a female I think.
When I was in town I was talking to a couple of the guys working for Earth Touch, filming lions in Moremi. The Xaxanaka pride has apparently just taken down their third elephant in the last few weeks. It was not fully grown but was apparently a decent size. They were not sure about the age of the others. One of the film makers was speculating that they are turning to elephants because the buffalo herds have moved off, but none of my collared animals use that area, so I do not know about the movements of the buff herds there, though it would be interesting to look at that area in the future.
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