Durban - A female waterbuck lost her baby calf while crossing a river at a private game lodge in Mpumalanga.
The mother buck only realised she had lost her calf after crossing the Crocodile River at the Mjejane Game Reserve in Hectorspruit. The Mjejane reserve, a 4 000-hectare residential estate, has a private bridge leading into the Kruger National Park.
The incident was caught on video by a tour guide from Leo Vantage Safari, Dave Pusey.
From the video, the mother can be seen trying to find a way across the river as the water level rises. During spring and summer, the park is in the rainy season, which raises the water levels of the surrounding rivers.
“The mother decided that she needed to get to the southern bank to get herself and her baby to safety before the water level rose even more. She started crossing the river, not very concerned about her calf, and continued to the other side!
“The calf soon followed after its mother, fighting to swim against the current and finally got washed away by the water under the bridge.
“Luckily, the calf managed to climb out of the water back onto a rocky island on the other side of the bridge. We are not sure whether the little calf survived the night on the island as it wasn’t there the next morning. We really hope the courageous calf made it across to its mom once it had some energy back,” Pusey said.
IOL