Hop, Skip and Jump – Part 4

As Hop and Skip got tamer and tamer, I started taking the whole family with me to visit them. Ruth was first and loved being with Hop and Skip so much that she started coming with me to visit them at least once a week.

Mom was understandably scared of my buffalo but still came along and sat a few meters away from them while I fed them.

Dad on the other hand was nearly always working while I went and visited my buffalo and so he only came along a few times. But when Ruth and I went on holiday to Carl-Daniel and Maja inPretoria, he took care of them for me. He went and fed them and spent a little while with them for me. Even though Hop had charged him before, he managed to overcome any fears and touched her again, but this time it was a peaceful touch. Everyone loved Hop and Skip, and why shouldn’t they?

Pumba followed me to Hop and Skip the one day. She somehow managed to get into the camp after I locked her out. I don’t know why I didn’t want to her to come with me though, as I had nothing to worry about.

Skip was fascinated with Pumba and the two of them immediately started playing together. Skip would chase Pumba around the camp before Pumba would turn around and start oinking at Skip, making her run away. Even though Skip was double Pumba’s size, she was still not sure of herself yet. Sometimes Pumba would start licking Skip’s nose and then Skip would lick her back. It was the weirdest thing watching the two of them.Buffaloand warthogs normally ignore each other, but my animals are different. But then again so am I, so in a twisted way it’s actually quite normal.

Pumba and Skip - big buddies!

While the two animals were playing, I managed to spend some time alone with Hop. I lay down against her back, closed my rubs and rubbed her. She also closed her eyes and allowed me to do pretty much anything with her. This meant I could rub her all over her body and pluck ticks from her, therefore making her the cleanest buffalo in the world. But the thing that she loved the most was when I scratched her tail. She would go into a trance, and when she was happy then I was happy.

When I wasn’t lying with Hop I was helping Pumba get away from Skip because my buffalo would sometimes get a little out of hand. But they played peacefully most times and really had fun.

Skip’s birthday arrived and I decided to do something special for her. She had been a great friend to be in the last year and deserved a present. It was difficult finding the perfect gift for her though, as she is a buffalo. It might sometimes be difficult giving a girl the perfect present, but what do you give a buffalo. I decided to make something for her. I cut a hole in my old soccer ball and tied a rope through it. The idea was that I would hang it in a tree so that she could push against it instead of me.

Soccer buff!

I also took some fruit and dog pellets and made my way to visit my buffalo. I sang to Skip when I arrived and laid out her assortment of food. She and Hop didn’t really like the funny things I brought and just ate the normal food. Skip enjoyed her ball though and pushed against it for a while before getting a little aggressive with me. She was pushing me so roughly that I had to climb a tree to get out of her way. When I left her that afternoon I really felt scared and despondent.

Mothers Day arrived next and this went much better. I just took the normal food along and spent a relaxing afternoon with my buffalo. They loved it and it just shows you how their behavior can change. It’s normally good but can sometimes get bad, and that’s what I have to watch out for.

I decided to spend a few hours in the dark with Hop and Skip the one evening. I went to them a little later, but took everything I usually took along as well as torch and a radio just in case they acted differently in the dark. As soon as it got dark Skip got a little playful and cause me a few problems as she just wouldn’t lie down and kept pushing me. She and her mom grazed for about an hour before finally lying down together. I lay down against Hop and closed my eyes and relaxed. I nearly fell asleep it was so peaceful. Hop and Skip act the same in the night as they do in the day. They might graze a little more as it is cooler, but they don’t change much. Spending some time under the cover of darkness with them showed me that they really trusted me. The loved me, and I loved them just as much.

My buffalo