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The shy and elusive bushbuck is distributed over sub-Saharan Africa and in East Africa, it is found in a variety of habitats, though rarely in open land. Bushbucks are forest-edge antelopes and live in habitat including Rain forest, Montane forest, forest-savanna mosaics and Bush savannas.
Bushbuck are solitary animals. Most group associations, except for a female and her young, are very temporary and only last a few hours or days. Most have small home ranges and which may overlap with those of other bushbuck. Even so, there is still not much contact and as adult individuals prefer to stay by themselves in their separate areas, mature males usually go out of their way to avoid each other.
In Mahale Bushbuck are often spotted along the edges of the forest, and here at Kungwe we have one resident male that has included the camp as part of his home range.
Pongo – as we call him (Swahili name for Bushbuck, or also referred to as Mbawala) is often around early mornings, strolling along the beach or feeding in between the tents at the forest’s edge. He seems to be quite relaxed around humans and will allow one to come rather close to him... During 2009 he appeared one morning with serious injuries, and from the injuries we concluded that he probably had a narrow escape from the male Leopard, which also often passes through camp. But this little male healed quickly and was soon healthy again.
Recently he disappeared for a while, after a few weeks had passed without seeing him around we thought that perhaps the Leopard finally got to him.
This morning we found him again in Camp feeding. And then we spotted a little female on our South beach! So it seems he is doing just fine after all....
Bushbuck are solitary animals. Most group associations, except for a female and her young, are very temporary and only last a few hours or days. Most have small home ranges and which may overlap with those of other bushbuck. Even so, there is still not much contact and as adult individuals prefer to stay by themselves in their separate areas, mature males usually go out of their way to avoid each other.
In Mahale Bushbuck are often spotted along the edges of the forest, and here at Kungwe we have one resident male that has included the camp as part of his home range.
Pongo – as we call him (Swahili name for Bushbuck, or also referred to as Mbawala) is often around early mornings, strolling along the beach or feeding in between the tents at the forest’s edge. He seems to be quite relaxed around humans and will allow one to come rather close to him... During 2009 he appeared one morning with serious injuries, and from the injuries we concluded that he probably had a narrow escape from the male Leopard, which also often passes through camp. But this little male healed quickly and was soon healthy again.
Recently he disappeared for a while, after a few weeks had passed without seeing him around we thought that perhaps the Leopard finally got to him.
This morning we found him again in Camp feeding. And then we spotted a little female on our South beach! So it seems he is doing just fine after all....
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