Just a couple hours ago tonight while Tehri, Charlie and I were eating dinner around the fire outside of the bush kitchen, we watched 5 male buffalo bulls drinking at the tiny water hole about 10m away. The fireplace area is surrounded merely by a row of rotted vertical posts but it provides a wonderful false sense of security. The three of us did an army crawl through the sand (I had Tehri’s Jack Russell Baxter in my arms) so that we were lying with our heads just above the fence. It was absolutely incredible to watch them. There is a spotlight aimed at and situated about 7m from the edge of the water hole for our viewing pleasure so as our eyes adjusted from the fire to the black night it was absolutely unreal. As we sat silently we then watched a Civet (looks like a Genet but with more of a raccoon face) silently wander in front of us in the direction of the water but then disappeared into the tall grass when the buffalo failed to indicate that they were in a sharing mood. Spotting buffalo on a day or night game drive has almost lost its thrill but as we lay there watching these old bulls drink and even fight (and then realizing that these guys could tear right through us if they felt the desire) it was amazingly exhilarating. The chorus of jackal and lions calls in the near distance just made it all that much better. Who needs a TV when you have the cinema of the bush!!
