World Wildlife Fund

Robin Naidoo
© Greg Stuart-Hill, WWF-LIFE

Robin Naidoo, a conservation scientist in WWF's Conservation Science program, returned from two weeks in the wilderness of Namibia's Caprivi Strip - a long, narrow band of Namibia that runs east-west between Botswana, Angola and Zambia. Get a first-person account of what it takes to capture, collar and release large African mammals - including buffalo, sable and impala. Read about his near-misses, helicopter chases and other adventures in conservation science.

Part 5: Face to Face with Buffalo

Jan touches down to pick up the ground support team.
© WWF / Robin Naidoo

We have now relocated to Mahango National Park on the west end of the Caprivi Strip. We are using a boma - a kind of portable corral - to capture sable, impala and eland, but for buffalo plans are different; they will be tranquilized from a helicopter for collaring and blood work. The idea had been to catch impala first thing in the morning by herding them into the boma, but plans quickly changed as we spotted a big herd of buffalo across the river. Pierre du Preez, chief conservation biologist for Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism, decides that we should capture a few animals and radioed for the helicopter to make ready.

During collaring, the sedated buffalo's head is held steady to prevent injury.
© WWF / Robin Naidoo

Everything happened quickly once we got started. The team in the two-seater helicopter (pilot: Jan du Preez, vet: Dr. Mark Jago) spotted and darted a buffalo for collaring. Mark and Jan now needed to ferry a number of us on the ground support team from our waiting position near camp out to where the buffalo were. When the chopper landed to pick me up I jumped in - my first time in a helicopter - with one of the guys helping me load my bag and collars. Then we're off flying low over the floodplains towards where the tranquilized buffalo is lying - a small female about four years old.

I run up to the sedated buffalo and we quickly put the collar on. The vet, Dr. Mark Jago of Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism, draws blood, and then we sprint away from the buffalo as the antidote to the tranquilizer is administered. Just in case she wakes up and charges us, we have Philip Steyn, chief warden of the Kavango region, stand guard with a rifle. From start to finish, the whole process took about 15 minutes.

A buffalo wakes up and returns to its herd.
© WWF / Robin Naidoo

After collaring the female buffalo we expected to go back to camp and begin collaring sable and impala, but there was another change of plans when we agreed to go collar another buffalo. So we waited, scanning the reeds for any sign of the just-awakened, possibly annoyed buffalo charging at us. Nothing. Meanwhile, another buffalo is darted about a mile away. This one is bigger, a seven-year-old. Again the collar is fitted, blood is drawn and we all run to safety up a nearby termite mound. This time the buffalo is slower to wake up. In the meantime, part of the herd is rushing back towards her. Fortunately the helicopter is on its way to pick us up, and the noise scares them off before they get close enough to find out who did this to their herd-mate.