Nature’s remedy for Queen Elizabeth buffaloes

Buffaloes take a bath along the road side in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Photo by Felix Basiime

By FELIX BASIIME

Posted Saturday, June 18 2016 at 01:00

http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/Natures-remedy-for-Queen-Elizabeth-buffaloes/-/691232/3254278/-/c11qvn/-/index.html

When humans get sick, they get treatment either by self-medication or visit hospitals, clinics or traditional healers. And while on treatment, they rest in wards or sick bays but where do wild animals go or what do they do when they get sick. The buffaloes in Queen Elizabeth National Park have found a sick bay in Lake Nyamunuka.

Nyamunuka is loosely translated as bad smell and according to the manager Queen Elizabeth park conservation area, Edward Asalu, the bad smell emanates from the sulphur in the shallow crater lake that is one of the four salty lakes in the area.

This lake has other minerals that the wild animals lick on the muddy banks and get healed of wounds and other ailments. The old buffaloes also use the lake as a security measure for their safety.

“There are several reasons why buffaloes especially the old ones, find refuge at Lake Nyamunuka,” says Asalu, adding, “One of them is a security measure, the crater lake is shallow and wide enough to easily see the surroundings so that they can get ready to fight the enemy (especially the lions) coming.”

He adds: “The other reason is that the bad smell from the gas emitted from the sulphur acts as a healing drug so the buffaloes inhale it to get rid of ailments such as tick attacks among others.” The wounded buffaloes also find refuge at this lake until they get healed and go back to the savannah park.

“The old and sick wild animals at Lake Nyamunuka are very focused during the time they spend there, because they all have a common enemy. You don’t find them fighting each other, they are like patients in a hospital ward,” says Asalu.

The beautiful Lake Nyamunuka is a few kilometres along the road to Mweya Safari Lodge. Queen Elizabeth National Park is in western Uganda, covering parts of Kasese, Kamwenge, Mitooma, Rubirizi, Kanungu, Rukungiri and Ibanda districts. It is approximately 376kms, by road, south-west of Kampala, through Mityana-Fort Portal road.

Buffaloes have found another sick bay at a roadside pool of muddy water along Katunguru-Kikorongo road also in the same national park where they submerge in the water to smear themselves with the mud as a measure to fend off tick.

When it shines, they move out of the waters to graze as the mud dries, it falls off with the ticks from their skins.

Safe and comfortable

Queen Elizabeth National Park occupies an estimated 1,978 sq kms and extends from Lake George in the north-east to Lake Edward in the south-west and includes the Kazinga Channel connecting the two lakes.

The park is Uganda’s most popular tourist destination due to its diverse ecosystems which include sprawling savanna, shady humid forests, sparkling lakes and fertile wetlands which make it the ideal habitat for classic game.

The park can be accessed through Kampala-Mityana-Mubende-Fort Portal-Kasese road on a six hour drive viewing other beautiful scenery or through Kampala-Masaka-Mbarara-Bushenyi route on a five hour drive.

There is an airstrip at Mweya Safari Lodge inside Queen Elizabeth National Park served by charter flights from Entebbe airport.

About buffaloes
The African buffalo or Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a large African bovine. Owing to its unpredictable nature, which makes it highly dangerous to humans, the African buffalo has never been domesticated unlike its Asian counterpart, the water buffalo. Other than humans, African Cape buffaloes have few predators aside from lions and are capable of defending themselves.

It is a member of the big five game and the most dangerous. The African buffalo is one of the fiercest animals in the park and their about 15, 000 according the recent census.