Hop, Skip and Jump – Part 5

Happy family

My relationship with Hop and Skip continued on developing and getting better. Things got a little more complicated though when my buffalo got a new friend – and the horrible thing about this was that it was a male! A young male buffalo, about three years old, was caught and put in Hop and Skip’s camp one morning.
He was a very pretty boy and was supposed to be a mate for Hop, even though I thought that he was still a little young. He was released near the boma and disappeared into the bushes as soon as he could. We decided to name him Jump, completing the saying Hop, Skip and Jump. I was happy that Hop and Skip would have a friend but I knew that it meant I wouldn’t be able to go to them anymore, unless I risked my life. This was going to be a big jump for me.

I left the buffalo alone for a day but I was itching to go and visit my girls and decided to take the quad to visit them. It wouldn’t be much of a help if Jump decided to attack as he easily had enough power flip it over. But I had a feeling that Hop and Skip would calm him down after a while.
I took some extra food and set off to visit my buffalo. I found Hop and Skip alone near the boma and gave them their food before driving around the camp to try and find Jump. I couldn’t find him at first but I finally found him in the thick clump of bushes near the boma, about fifty meters from Hop and Skip. I threw some food down about fifteen meters from him before going back to spend time with my girls.
They ate the food up in no time and then just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I wanted to go to Jump but decided against it and just lay with my girls for the rest of the afternoon.

The next afternoon turned out to be much more eventful as I found Hop and Skip with Jump in the back bushes. Hop and Skip came out for their food and I gave them a short rub before dumping the food in front of them. To make Jump feel part of the family I went and sat fifteen meters away from my girls so that he could eat with them. He hesitantly joined them at the food and nibbled on it. It was a good sign.
After the food had been finished, Skip and Jump walked off into the bushes together, allowing me to spend some time with Hop. I only managed to give her a short rub though as Jump and Skip soon returned. I stayed with Hop as they walked towards us. Skip came and lay down next behind Hop and very surprisingly, Jump also lay down but a few meters further away. Perfect.
I lay down against Hop and watched Jump intently. He stared straight back at me for a while before closing his eyes. I was amazed at his behavior and tried to take advantage of it by moving a little closer to him. This made him very uncomfortable and he got up and scrambled away. I was livid with myself and went home straight away as a result. I had been three meters away from him but then broke the trust he had in me. I was stupid, but at least he trusted me a little.]

Hop, Skip and Jump

The next few days went by without any problems. I managed to get close to Jump once again and didn’t do anything to ruin the moment this time. He was starting to settle in with Hop and Skip and I always found him with them. They were starting to become a family, and I needed to make sure that I was in it as well.

About a week later I found my girls right in the front of the camp. Jump was with them and I managed to put the food down in front of them without any problems. The quad was about five meters from my buffalo and I realized that if I wanted to touch Jump I would have to leave it. I didn’t want to wait until after the food to try and touch him, so I made my move.
Jump and Skip were eating on either side of Hop, so I decided to come from Skip’s side to approach Jump. Jump backed away a little when I approached but the food drew him nearer again. I touched Skip without any problems and gave Hop a long rub while Jump watched on. I waited until he was eating again before stretching over towards him and touching him on the head. I was ecstatic but wanted Jump to know that I touched him, so I kept rubbing him until he looked up at me. We looked into each other’s eyes fro a second before he carried on eating. I pulled away and walked back to the quad, my legs shaking.
I had touched Jump. I couldn’t keep my happiness in and threw my fist in the air. No one ever thought that I would tame Hop and Skip, let alone Jump. Everyone thought he was going to make mince meat out of me, but it didn’t happen. I had gained his trust with the help of Hop and Skip. Without them it wouldn’t have been possible and I also have to thank the Lord for keeping me safe.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in dreamland and sang and danced when I left my buffalo later in the day. I now had three buffalo! I jumped up and down as I ran home. Touching Jump had been a big achievement, probably more so than touching Hop and Skip. It had been tough, but I had broken through.

Jump!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t spend more time getting closer to Jump as we moved to one of the other farms a few kilometers away. I was so sad to leave my buffalo but knew that they were a happy family and would be able to get on without me. But would I be able to cope without them?

Hop, Skip and Jump – Part 4

This gallery contains 3 photos.

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 […]

Hop, Skip and Jump – Part 3

This gallery contains 4 photos.

Three other buffalo were put in the boma with Hop and Skip as tests had to be done on them before they could be sold. In the mean time a camp was built onto the boma for Hop and Skip. It was a two-hectare camp and the buffalo were released into it when it had […]

Hop, Skip and Jump – Part One

Hi everyone, Luke here. Over the next few posts I am going to be showing you why I love nature so much. It was because of a few special animals that I started to become interested in nature, and well, now I’m hooked. People say that once the bush bites you it doesn’t let go and I know that it will always be in my blood. So enjoy this little series of posts. These animals changed my life, and maybe other animals will change yours.

 

Hop, Skip and Jump – Part One

 

June 2008 – Winter was in full swing on the farm, and because of it we had to feed the animals to prevent them from dying. Feeding doesn’t often happen in other nature reserves, but as we didn’t have lions or spotted hyenas to clean up all the carcasses, there was no use in letting nature take its cause.

After feeding the animals the one afternoon, we drove past all the feeding spots again to see what animals had come to eat. We saw the a few buffalo, hippo and lots of rhino, before arriving at the second last feeding spot. There were only two animals there, but they were two young buffalo calves. We were surprised that there mother wasn’t in sight, so we set off to try and find her, and around the next corner we did. She was limping badly though and was really suffering. As it was the end of the day there wasn’t much that we could do about her, but we arranged that a vet would come out the following morning to check her.

The next morning the vet arrived and we set off to find the buffalo. The helicopter located them in a matter of minutes as they weren’t far from when they had been the previous evening. The vet darted all three animals right away and then set about examining the female’s leg. He immediately said that it was broken, condemning our worst fears. There were only two options now: put her down, or let her live in a small camp for the rest of her life.Buffaloare expensive animals and knowing that her small calf’s life was also at stake, it was decided that she would be taken to the boma (small wooden enclosure) near our house.

All three buffalo were loaded onto vehicles using a big strong stretcher that about fifteen men had to pick up. We all then drove to the boma, where the animals were released and woken up. The all hobbled to their feet, especially the poor mother. Her two young male claves stood at her side as we drove away to leave them to settle in.

We decided to name the mother buffalo with the broken leg Hop-a-long, or Hop for short, because she had to hop around the whole time. We couldn’t think of names for her calves straight away, so we decided to just watch their personalities for a while to see what names would suit them.

 

We had to feed the buffalo every morning and afternoon as they couldn’t find their own food. So, we gave them a few kilograms of lucern and some game feed to keep them healthy. The one morning my dad and I accompanied one of the staff members to go and feed them. Dad wanted to put an elevated feeding bowl into Hop’s camp so that she didn’t have to bend down onto her knees to eat every time. We also had two injured rhinos in the boma, so while Klaas and I were feeding them, Dad attempted to put the food bowl in Hop’s camp.

Hop was standing in the back of the camp when Dad entered, but that changed in a matter of seconds. The next thing we knew Dad was lying on his back on the ground with Hop trying to gore him to death. He managed to slip out from underneath her though and jumped on the back of his bakkie. Hop rammed into the bakkie before charging off into the bush with her two calves. Hop had looked so harmless but she was still a dangerous killing-machine. Dad thankfully wasn’t too badly hurt and just had a few gashes and bruises all over his body.

The next day the vet arrived to dart Hop and her calves for the second time. It took them a while to find Hop, and when they did; her calves were nowhere to be seen. The calves must have rejoined the herd, so all we could do was dart Hop and take her back to the boma. The whole process went smoothly and in no time Hop was back in the boma. Only this time, she cut a lonely figure in the back corner of her enclosure. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

I went to visit Hop nearly everyday and just sat and watched her from outside the boma. She would charge me nearly every single time I arrived, and was always in an aggressive mood. I jumped back every time she charged, even though there was a barrier preventing her from getting to me. It was just that instinct that kicked in – if something charges at you, run! It’s not good to do that with wild animals though, but I couldn’t help it.

Hop slowly started getting settled into life alone in the boma. She didn’t charge me anymore after a few months and allowed me to sit and speak to her. She never came closer though, but I was happy to just keep her company. It was like she was living in a zoo – no freedom, no life. That had to change.