Not the prettiest of our neighbours, the noble wildebeest rarely makes it into the limelight of the Sand Rivers Blog. This territorial bull from the Miombo woodland area doesn’t have the luxury of blending into the crowd like the millions of his brethren that rumble past Lamai every year.
He has to tough it out on his own until one of the few females and young deems his area suitable for a temporary stay – he’ll try his best to keep them in but inevitably the grass will prove greener at some stage and he’s have to watch them leave.
To reach these dizzy heights of success he needs heightened senses and presumably a nervous, high strung disposition. We’ve seen lions hunting them and their acceleration is incredible – the big cats have to get the jump on a bull wildebeest to catch him. In lovely evening light we recently watched this old pro flexing his muscles.
