Part 3.Plan B or was it Plan C? Buffaloes at Beitbridge

Plan B was to leave the chopper at Bulawayo and continue to the far south of the country to capture 20 buffaloes at the Cawood Estate near Beitbridge.

We were on the road early. It was only 2 degrees Celsius and totes freezing. After 3 hours we stopped for brunch at Bulawayo, Zim’s second largest city. Jan flew down in the chopper with Nick, Ron and Terry. She was of course grinning like a cheshire cat!

After brunch, Nick received news that Pan B had a spanner in the works. The government vet who had to be present at the buffalo capture would not be available the next day which happened to be a Sunday………all the best laid plans! After another coffee Plan C appeared and it was decided to stay in Bulawayo overnight and drive down the next day to start the capture. Having found accommodation Nick received another call from Cawood Farm………Plan B was back on! The Vet’s palm had been crossed with silver and he agreed to help us out on the sabbath after all. (I assume these funds were NOT virtual $Zim). Get in! Even better Patti and Paul, the owners of Cawood Farm at Beitbridge had offered to accommodate, feed and water us for two days, for gratis, while the buffalo were caught! Double get in!

The helicopter was hangared in Bulawayo, so everyone had to squeeze into 2 vehicles with Ben and Mark (AWMC guys) laying on mattresses on top of the flatbed. Ian and I went with Josh and had a fascinating conversation with him on the way.

We learnt that AWMC was started by Nick’s father and Josh and Nick are now the owners. Its the only commercial animal capture company in Zimbabwe. Josh’s wife, Jackie, is a vet who often works with AWMC when she is not home tutoring their 3 children or running her veterinary practice ……yes Jackie = wonder woman!

Josh and Nick have clear and different roles in the company. Josh has become a specialist in the use of dangerous drugs. Nick is a natural and talented chopper pilot capable flushing out and corralling animals in all terrains. Fixer Innes owns and rents out the chopper used by AWMC and often assists Nick and Josh………he and Terry are effectively part of the AWMC family………..Ron’s also a pretty

good pilot himself.

It has taken Josh years to become accredited and trained in the use of the “dangerous drugs” such as powerful opiates. Each year he attends lengthy training courses to keep up to date and to ensure he is “safe”. It is a highly complex business as the drugs used can be in combinations, frequently have competing modes of action eg agonists and antagonists and/or need to be used in different dosages according to the animals and situation. Often this is done under challenging circumstances and terrain. Drug doses can also differ between carnivores and herbivores and surprisingly zebras require the highest doses/kg of all. A single zebra will need more tranquiliser than an Eland weighing over a ton! So never get in a drinking competition with a zebra!

Josh and Nick work all over Zim, capturing and moving animals for National Parks, (ex) Presidents, Senior Government officials, game parks and hunting parks. The company survives despite ever more burdensome bureaucracy and invidious corruption and despite this culture they have never taken a bribe.

After a long and cramped drive from Bulawayo we arrived at Cawood Farm, Beitbridge. We were greeted by the owners called Patti and Paul…………and as we approached their garden gate we saw

the following sign “beware the dogs and the lion!”

Yeah right we thought!…………however there was indeed a beautiful tame(ish) lioness called Tara strolling around in a large pen next the house. She purred and moved sinuously in front of us, clearly wanting to be stroked but we declined her kind offer and left that to Patti.

Our hosts could not have been more welcoming…….cold beers and G&T’s were served around a camp fire before dinner. Bliss! Paul told us they had been forced to give up 3 farms before being allowed to retain the Cawood Farm where we were staying. The farm is now primarily a citrus plantation although they also breed buffalo. Because of the long drought and rising prices for feed, they were now having to shed some of these buffaloes. Bad for them but good for us.

The next day started a little unusually. While Jon was enjoying a lengthy, early morning pee, Tara decided to emit a blood curdling roar immediately outside the bathroom window. All muscles contracted at a stroke! Streamus interruptus!

Buffalo capture day had finally arrived………….yeehaaa! By day break the local herdsman had corralled 20 buffaloes into a large pen called a Boma. The fenced sides of the Boma were covered in black plastic to make the buffaloes think they were contained within solid walls…….. and therefore not escape. Well, it certainly seemed to work, which was just as well as we were all in the Boma at various times during the capture! The sketch and pictures show what happened next.

It took all day to prepare the drugs, tranquilise and catch the animals,

load them onto sleds and crane them onto the AWMC transporter. Once on the truck the animals were given an antidote. They were up and at it in seconds and judging by the kicking and bellowing they were not entirely happy. Fortunately they soon calmed down. The buffaloes were then moved onto a larger transporter ready for the overnight drive back to their farm close to Harare. Later these animals would be combined with another group of captured buffaloes, crated and loaded onto a cargo plane and flown to the Congo. Phew! Upon arrival in the Congo, the process was reversed, the animals loaded onto a further truck before being released into their new home some 48 hours after capture. All animals survived and we heard they were settling in well into their new grassy surroundings.

Buffaloes are mean and unpredictable machines. In fact they are quadruple hard! Old males weigh more than two tonnes. One well

placed horn can apparently slice your nether regions in two. Oucha!

Stocking your own wildlife reserve is an expensive business. Each animal cost Kabila $150K………..I guess the price is not too surprising when you see the scale of the specialist equipment and the number of people involved. ………..and this capture didn’t need a helicopter!

Wow……….what a brilliant experience……but this was just the start!