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Hop slowly adapted to life on her own. One of the few positives that came out of Skip’s departure was that Hop started becoming so loving. She amazingly started licking my face and allowed me to lie down with my nose against hers. I didn’t have an ounce of fear around her and neither did […]
This gallery contains 4 photos.
My life wasn’t complete without my buffalo. And to make matters worse, news came through that Jump had broken out of the camp and wouldn’t be brought back in. I was really disappointed for Hop and Skip’s sake. It would now be just the two of them again. And for me, well, I had Pumba […]
Happy family
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?
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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 […]
I went and spent time with Hop every single day and after a while she started to get used to me being around her. One Saturday afternoon, I went with dad and Ruth to give her some food. We said hello to her and spoke to her while we put her food out. I had decided that I wasn’t going to spend time with her that afternoon as I wanted to do a little bird watching at the dam below our house. So after feeding her, dad and Ruth drove home while I made my way to the dam.
As I was walking past Hop I noticed that there was this tiny white thing at her rear. It looked weird so I ran to tell dad about it. He said that it must be her bull string, which shows that she is on heat. That made me feel a whole lot better and I went back to the dam to find some birds. I had an interesting afternoon and saw a few nice birds before making my way home.
The next morning at about seven o’clock dad and I went to feed Hop. When we got to the boma I immediately went to see how Hop was doing while sad handled the food. She was in the furthest of the four compartments and when I got there I stopped dead still. Hop was standing up and right next to her was a small calf. Hop had given birth! I stared at it in disbelief for a few seconds before telling dad to come and look. I didn’t tell him that Hop had given birth, so when he saw the calf he couldn’t believe his eyes. We were both overjoyed and watched the two of them for a while before going to tell everyone about what had happened.
Hop and our new arrival, Skip!
When we got home and told mom she burst out crying. And what made it even more special was that it was on Mother’s Day. I had forgotten about that though but mom wasn’t at all bothered. Hop having a baby certainly made up for it. And I live on a farm, so how should I know that it was Mothers Day?
All the staff members on the farm went to have a look at kokai and her calf. They called Hop that because she was crippled, but they all loved her. The calf was a little girl and we decided to name her Skip. She and her mom didn’t like all the attention though so we left them alone for the rest of the day.
We were all so happy that Hop finally had company. She had been alone in the boma for eleven months without us knowing that she wad pregnant. It was probably better that way though as the surprise was well worth it, but I was kicking myself that I didn’t sit with Hop the previous afternoon. I would have seen her giving birth but it wasn’t the end of the world.
Baby Skip
Hop seemed much happier now that she had some company. She charged at us more than usual though, but that was just her motherly instinct. Skip always stayed at her mom’s side but was very rough when she wanted milk. She would butt her mother to stand up and when she was up, she drank and drank until Hop got tired and just had to lie down.
A week after Skip had been born we found that Hop had a big wound on her bum and so the vet had to come in to treat her. He darted Hop, but because Skip was still small and harmless, she didn’t need to be darted. While the vet treated Hop, Skip ran around like crazy. She didn’t know what was going on. She rammed into me the one time when she ran past and nearly knocked me to the ground. Even though she was small, she was still strong. It didn’t take the vet long to patch Hop up and the mother and daughter were soon reunited. We left them alone for the rest of the day. Hop’s life just gets tougher and tougher but at least she had Skip to help her through it.
After Hop and Skip had settled I went and spent time with them every afternoon. At first they only lay in the back of the boma and watched me, but I enjoyed every second that I spent with them. I spoke to them as much as I could to get them used to me. I lay down next to the boma and watched them day in and day out. They slowly got used to me, but still didn’t come closer.
Hop and Skip
One day when I arrived at the boma I found Hop and Skip eating at the bowl. They immediately started making their way to the back of the boma but I reassured them that I wasn’t going to hurt them. I sat down next to the boma and spoke to them, hoping that they would stop. And after walking a few meters they did just that. Hop lay down and Skip went and stood behind her mom. I was overjoyed that I was only a few meters away from them. At first, both Hop and Skip only stared at me with their big brown eyes while I spoke to them, but after a while they started to relax and they even closed their eyes at one stage. I couldn’t believe it and just lay there and spoke to them for the rest of the afternoon. I mumbled out all kinds of things to them until it got dark and I had to make my way home.
I was slowly gaining Hop and Skip’s trust and learning more about them each day. I was fascinated with them. Now all that I needed to do was touch them. But how was I going to manage that?
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