Anders Westermann is a repeat guest to Londolozi and I was fortunate enough to have met him during his last stay with us in April. In my new role on the blog team, I always have my ear close to the ground in order to get new and interesting footage from guests and rangers. This day in early April was no different and after hearing about the sighting of a buffalo giving birth, I made sure that I received any footage I could get. Ranger, Chris Goodman, let me in on the fact that his guests had filmed the whole thing, so without further ado I was on my way down to Tree Camp. Anders was more than willing for me to take the footage and use it as I pleased. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did! Below you can see the video as well as read Chris’s take on this wonderful experience.
I have only, on one other occasion, seen a buffalo birth and it was from a long way off in the middle of a large herd. In this case we only saw the newborn very briefly. So it was an absolute stroke of luck the other morning, in early April when we were out looking for cheetah, that we came across a distressed female buffalo on the edge of the herd. As she turned we realized exactly why she was distressed – she was midway through giving birth. I turned to Anders and recommended that he film what was happening in front of us. We witnessed the birth, the cleaning of the calf by the mother and the calf’s first attempts at standing up. We waited a very long time but did not see the youngster get to its feet. We were very fortunate to catch the first few moments of this little animal’s life in glorious morning light.
Written by Kate Neill and Chris Goodman
Filmed by Anders Westermann
Wow, what a fortunate sighting! And so it begins the Circle of Life!
thanks Kate and Chris and also grateful to A Westermann for the film.
What a wonderful experience to share in!!!
Wow…how Awesome was that!!!! Thank You for sharing!!!