Talk about hitting the snooze button at the wrong time! These buffaloes were so deep in dreamland that they dozed through rising floodwaters that nearly washed them away!
Watch the Sighting:
Mike Kirkman, an experienced guide from MalaMala Game Reserve, was out on safari with his guests in Kruger National Park when he came across an exceptional sighting. He was driving alongside a river when he discovered two buffaloes having a peaceful midday snooze inside the dried up riverbed.
What seemed like an average sighting quickly turned into something far more exciting. The group watched the two buffaloes for a few minutes, but quickly realized something unnerving was happening in the background…
Rising Danger
Due to the effects of Cyclone Eloise, Kruger National Park had been experiencing extensive flooding. The river Mike and his group were watching, was one of many that overflowed in the days following the storm.
Over the course of a few minutes, floodwaters began to steadily rise within the river, approaching the buffaloes who were still fast asleep. One after the other, the buffaloes took a dazed look around, sensing the approaching danger, but seemed to not understand that the rushing water was heading straight for them!
They both fell back asleep, too lazy to try and investigate further.
From Deep Sleep to Deep Water
Eventually, the water was touching the back legs of the sleeping buffaloes. Mike and his group watched in suspense, wondering at what point would they wake up.
With water now under their bellies, the buffaloes finally seemed to get the message — wake up or get washed away! In a daze, they slowly stood up and looked around in disbelief.
It was almost comical as the group could practically read the buffaloes’ thoughts while they stood in confusion, trying to process the rushing water rapidly surrounding them. They stared at the water in disbelief as if to say, “How did all of this water get here?”
A Drowsy Escape
The buffaloes began to trudge themselves out of the river, making their way over to the bank. With sleepy brains and heavy rushing water, they moved at the speed of a turtle, annoyed by the disturbance to their nap.
In the end, the pair made it safely to the riverbank, having nearly avoided being swept away by the strong current. Mike and his guests were very fortunate to have witnessed such a comical yet close-call situation during their game drive that day.
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Cyclone Eloise in the Kruger
Cyclone Eloise was a tropical storm that formed in January 2021 and heavily impacted Madagascar, Mozambique, and South Africa.
As the cyclone passed over, multiple roads and camps were closed and evacuated within Kruger National Park. The heavy rainfall caused many rivers within the park to overflow, and some infrastructure was damaged.
As seen in this encounter, floodwaters can have intensive effects on ecosystems and wildlife. While seasonal floods are common, cyclones can have both positive and negative outcomes for wildlife.
For example, they can give life to new vegetation that certain animals rely on and provide more water sources for drinking and bathing. On the negative side, however, strong floods can uproot vegetation, form gullies, and injure or kill animals.
If there’s one thing to learn from this sighting, it’s that in the wild, when you snooze, you lose! These buffaloes got lucky, but next time, they might want to set an alarm!