SANParks.org Forums

Hey Butterbee

As Dup says go to Lugmag Dam...great place for large herds in winter...

I will almost put money on the fact that if you go north from Skukuza on the tar past Tshokwane and cross at the Nwaswitsontso loop (or preferably Sweni road) to the S36 that you will come across a big buffalo herd ...often find them getting active just off the tar road areas at first light and then drinking just before it warms up too much say 830-1030 am. They seem to drink once or twice a day so the permanent and especially large dams are great at this time of year

Let us know if you have any luck...

Good Luck!

We saw a massive herd on the H7 at Nsemani dam mid July. They were standing 3-4 deep all around the dam.... a sight to behold

Yeah, a massive herd is a wonderful sight. I have about 1200 on the S36 in 2009. I just drove slowly and they opened up like the red sea and let me through.

We also saw a very big herd crossing the road, somewhere above Lower Sabie at the end of July, so they seems to stick to that area.

Butterbee,

Although not lately we saw big buffalo herds on the H10 tar road between Lower Sabie and Tshokwane.
Also a herd of about 800 on the H3 tar road between S112 and the S113 turnoffs.
Big herds also spotted on the tar road between Lower Sabie and Crocodilebridge as well as on the gravel road S3 Albasiniroad between Numbi Gate and Phabeni Gate.

Good luck hope you see the bigest buffalo herd ever recorded in KNP.

Big herd of +/- 800 seen last week at Nsameni dam near Satara and another
one on the tar road just passed Satara on the way to Olifants. Might be a bit far
north for you though if you are only there for the weekend.

Good Luck

A couple of massive herds in the south right now

In the last week or so i've seen a huge herd hanging around the Croc Bridge Gate at least 200. An even bigger herd on the Salitjie Road and this morning i've had a big herd move through the bottom of my garden Possibly the same ones that have been hanging around Croc Bridge.

The largest Buffalo herd that we have seen in Kruger was on one of the gravel roads in the Talamti area. We were suddenly in the centre of the herd and we could see Buffalo everywhere. That was an amazing experience.

Saw a big herd near the mlondozi picnic site in october.
And a huge heard near Satara

We have just returned from two weeks in Kruger and every time i find a heard browsing along the road i drive up to them slowly stop and swicth the engine off and sit there and and watch their actions. Some will walk up close stand and look at you, others will give you the beady eye stare over flaring nostrils, most just carry on browsing like a bunch of dairy cows. The bulls keep their distance and i have never seen any aggression. The cows show the most interest and sometimes walk around the car and give you a good look over. Next time you are in Kruger give it try?

How do you determine the size of a herd? ....

(The biggest herd of animals we have ever seen was Zebra north of Lower Sabie many years back, or rather a lot of small herds together).

Jubs , take a bloc and counted the heads or body's then dived the whole heard by the size of the block and calculate. The answer you get will be very close.
News about big herd's ,We just return from the park and saw more Buffalo, zebra and Wildebeest than ever. The grazing is good and the animals are "fat".We estimate that we saw in two weeks about 9000 buffalo's.Between Letaba and Satara we even saw two big herds become "mix-up".

That is good news! And interesting

Considering we only had 3 wildebees sightings in 7 days in Southern Kruger Less than 10 in total

Thank you Dup.

An excuse to my SO "We need to go to the park so I can learn how to count. And we will return often until I get it right"

(Adult learning - if you don't use it you lose it)

Obviously count the legs and divide by 4

Seriously, we have been keeping score for about 25 years now, and we count a group of animals in a space, say 20 - 30, and count the 'spaces'.

This herd was coming across the road FLTR, and as far as I could see left were buffs. On the right was the waterhole, about half a rugby field's size, I could see buffs all around it, and a lot in it, and a lot beyond it. I might have even underestimated the strength.