Herding Buffalo on the Frontier

Sunday afternoon we went out doing aerial reconnaissance below the Mbarika Mountains on the edge of the Selous. We were blessed to discover that no one has yet moved into this region of Tanzania. No one has likely visited since the Germans passed through mapping briefly one hundred years ago. The forests are lush and unspoiled, and game trails are plentiful and visible, even from a couple thousand feet in the air.



We spotted huge elephants and a herd of cape buffalo which was too tempting to pass over without a closer view. As David descended, I positioned myself in front of the small camera port in the plane's huge plexiglass door. As David swept in at treetop level, I snapped a couple of photos (of which one or two turned out). Our cowboy behavior sent the animals into a frenzy, as they all immediately stampeded over the ridge and into a dense riverine thicket where they disappeared from sight.

Here's the challenge: at first glance, how many animals do you see?



I used photoshop to zoom in and place a red dot on each animal:



84 buffalo in all!