Greenkeeper Jean Rossouw seemed quite impressed that a few hundred buffaloes fertilised the Skukuza Golf Club’s fairways at the world-renowned Kruger National Park for free earlier this month.

He says on the afternoon of October 3, he went onto the golf course to remove flags, which is a daily routine after closing play.

“We did hear rumours during the day that there was a buffalo herd close to the golf club, but I had not seen it when we went to remove the flags.”

When he went back to the greens later that night to move water sprinklers, he spotted the herd and managed to shoo the bovines off the greens.

The herd returned during the night or early morning.

“They also walked over the greens, but there was no damage done. We used a drag mat and machines to spread the dung; at least we got free fertiliser,” he says.

The golf club has become a regular rendezvous spot for various Kruger Park inhabitants, with wild dogs, badgers, hyenas, elephants, and lions having visited in the past.