African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer)

[Fredymrt]

Credits to bush 24 africa

Posted on Wednesday at 12:31 PM

Hundreds of buffalo drown in desperate attempt to escape lions

*This image is copyright of its original author

Hundreds of buffalo drowned in the Chobe river after being chased by a pride of lions. (Serondela Lodge)

500 buffaloes drown!?!

In an incredible scene lions chased a huge herd of over a 1000 buffaloes into the Chobe river with a disastrous outcome for the poor bovines.

In fact we had been sitting with the herd just yesterday morning as they made their way up the banks on the Botswana side of the river after feeding off the fresh flush of green grass left on the floodplains of the Chobe river's receding waters, typical for this time of year.

As the mid day temperatures increased they sought shade and then made their way back to the river for a drink opposite the Serondela Lodge area later on. We didnt realise that this was the beginning of a really sad incident.


The Serondela Lodge in Namibia posted a video of the dead buffalo on its Facebook page Thursday. The Lodge is located on the Namibian side of the Chobe river that separates Namibia from its southern neighbor Botswana.

To their west was the large pride of 25 lions that had split in to 2 groups while to their east we counted 11 lions with 2 big males that have been taking over the area. (There were also 2 brown hyenas in the area)! The lions were hungry and we had just watched them miss catching a zebra. 

As the buffaloes made their way to the water and the lions looked for food a frightening scene played out last night. A scene which actually plays out like this most years but just not usually on this sort of scale. I have seen 40 dead buffalo which died like this before but not 400-500.

What happens is that the lions chase the buffalo which panic and run. Although they were in good condition compared to normal they are weaker at this time of year because of it being the end of the dry season. They panicked and ran into the water and so many drowned. The banks were also high in this area and the night so dark that it was just the worst set of circumstances that meant they had no escape route and thus so many died.

Its raw nature and nothing to do with humans. It's a scene that has no doubt played out like this over the centuries in an area which has such huge numbers of wildlife.

This will make a serious dent on the buffalo of the area but they should be able to bounce back from this. I do have one thought and one question. Why when Botswana do all the protecting to the Namibians feel it's their right to come and claim all the meat?

I'm happy the meat was used and didnt all rot. But it's kind of ironic that the same scene plays out every year that animals die in the river and that the meat is always stolen from nature. It's soemthing that needs to be discussed and I wish there could just be better management of humans on this side of this great wildlife reserve from the Namibian government...after all if its nature then the dead animals should provide food for the predators and not just humans. In this case though everyone should reap the rewards of a dramatic incident: both humans and beasts!


Micheletti said that he heard the lions roaring on Tuesday night and saw the dead buffalo floating in the Chobe river the next morning.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Local people cut the buffalo carcasses up for meat. (Serondela Lodge)
Cloudy conditions that blocked the moonlight on Tuesday night may have contributed to the mass drownings, according to Micheletti, who noted that the buffalo may not have been able to see.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Officials estimate that 400 buffaloes died in the mass drowning. (Serondela Lodge)

*This image is copyright of its original author

A buffalo carcass in the Chobe river. (Serondela Lodge)
Thanks a lot to Simon Micheletti of Serondella Lodge for allowing me to share these images. It's one of Africa's last true wild areas! Reply