buffalo(es in) spring( )field

After our encounter with a large male buffalo and three calves on Tuesday last week, we were cycling along the same rough track four days later—and, naturally, we were on the lookout for more of these fine animals to photograph.

“Do I spy buffaloes?” I exclaimed, as we reached the location of our previous meeting.

The first animals that I’d seen were a female and her calf, quite close to the track:

However, I’d also spotted quite a large number of animals further away:

It didn’t take long for them to notice me:

…and come to investigate the intruder:

Notice the animal just left of centre in the previous two photos, which may be the herd leader. And the group on the right standing shoulder to shoulder, which appears to be an instinctive defensive mechanism. They continued to advance:

Notice the individual that appears to have barged his way into the shoulder-to-shoulder line-up on the right.

At this point, I decided to switch to video mode, and this was the result:

Following the shooting of the video, I switched back to taking photos. And the ‘leader’ continued the posturing seen in the video:

After taking a couple more photos:

…it was time to retreat. But the buffaloes decided to follow me:

No need to panic. The herd chose to scramble down into the hollow on the right, where I’d photographed the mother and calf earlier:

I took two final photos before getting back on my bike:

And that was my latest encounter with feral buffaloes in this area.