I head up the Sustainable Utilization & Field Guiding department at the Southern African Wildlife College. (www.wildlifecollege.org.za) Our students come from all the southern African countries and they are trained under the principles that the sustainable utilization of Africa's wildlife is an essential part of its conservation. Professional hunters are needed for this, and we train them. The emphasis of this training is very much dangerous game orientated because we are located within South Africa's greater Kruger National Park. We have a 10 000 acre training area around the college campus. This is prime big 7 country and we encounter the dangerous species daily on our training exercises. The SAWC relies totally on donor funding and my department is only able to operate thanks to the generosity of the likes of Dallas Safari Club, Aimpoint, and Norma. SCI's Hunter Legacy 100 Funds also support us - we recently purchased and modified a Landcruiser into the ideal 'safari vehicle' with funds derived from their very generous donation.
My PH students and I recently encountered a truly magnificent, 8.5 yr old buffalo bull in our training area. The bull was very obviously a dominant herd bull and it was interesting to watch him as he moved cows out of the way and then positioned himself between us and the herd for defensive reasons. I was able to get some nice photos of him, and even a short video clip.
My daughter Natalie is an artist. When she asked how she could assist with my department's fundraising efforts, I asked her to paint this impressive bull. This she did. I was planning to display the painting at the buffalo seminar I recently presented at the DSC show - but thanks to a UPS mess-up, the painting was delivered to Arlington VA instead of Dallas! By the time it was recovered, I was already back in Africa, and the show was long over! The painting is now in Austin, TX, at the home of my good friend, Monty Kalogeras of Safari Shooting School fame.
It is framed and quite big - 1.4 by 1 m in size. It is for sale. If there is anyone interested, please email me at doctari505@gmail.com All proceeds will go towards my department. Many thanks for reading this.
Dr. Kevin Robertson

Congratulations on having a good wildlife artist in the family! She obviously gets her looks from her Mother's side of the family. :-)

Ruark said "Cape Buffalo; they simply look at you as if you owe them money...".

The bull in the photo has "That Look" and miss Natalie has captured it truly well.

Rich

I hope she is proud of herself. I know her smile shows it. That is amazing.

I have no spot for it to do it justice...Had I not sold the mountain home it would have gone above the hearth.

I HAVE DEGREES IN FORESTRY AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT [not wildlife biology and that was on purpose ]. I like your college more.

Sorry for caps.

Thanks for the comments and yes, Natalie does have her mothers looks - lucky lady!

Very nice all around -- both the buffalo and the painting. Don't know how long it will be there, but I'll be visiting Monty in the next few months and hope to see it.