Having hunted Cape Buffalo twice in Zimbabwe, and with the limitations on my disposable income, I've pretty much decided that I don't ever want to hunt anything else ever again. (Currently I am saving up for Mozambique in a few years.)

That being said, I'd love to have a nice big Water Buffalo to compliment my trophy room. I don't hunt buffalo just because they are supposedly or in actuality dangerous, but rather to see if I can do it. Tracking them, finding them, and sneaking up close is the trick that provides the reward, and I don't imagine Water Buff are any easier, unless of course they are in an area where they are used to seeing humans. At the same time there is no doubt that some danger factor exists, and admittedly yes, I like knowing that. If you get gored by either one, will it really matter?

BTW Zephyr fantastic shooting!

As for the hype that goes into today's safari industry, I would tend to agree on the ridiculous BS level but I won't get started on one of my tirades. At the same time its not all hype, there is some basis of fact, and here are some older quotes for perspective, which may lend a small bit of credibility to the reputation.

--

“I consider it probable that no animal in all the long list of African great game is endowed with more terrible ferocity than the buffalo, when once his resentment has been aroused.”

Maugham, R.C.F., Wild Game in Zambezia, Charles Scribner’s and Sons, New York, 1914

--

“The Buffalo is the one animal in the veldt that cannot be stopped when he charges except by death…”

Chadwick, W.S., Rhodesian Buffalo, Man-Killers and Marauders, H.F.&G. Witherby, London 1929

--

“There is no doubt that under certain circumstances buffalo, in addition to showing themselves exceedingly dangerous opponents when wounded by hunters, become truculent and inclined to take the offensive themselves.”

Roosevelt, Theodore, African Game Trails, Charles Scribner’s and Sons 1910, (A Buffalo Hunt on the Kamiti)

--

But I have to admit that one of my favorites, even though it throws a bit of a wrench in the gears, is this one:

Kittenberger, Kalmán, Big Game Hunting and Collecting in East Africa, 1903-1926, Edward Arnold & Co. London, 1929

“I have come to the conclusion that buffalo are not so black as they are painted.”

Good hunting to all.