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Buffalo
A World Heritage-listed national park, Kakadu is known for its wildlife, its scenery and its rock art, including the superb sites at Ubirr in the north of the park. It's not really known for its buffalo. Buffalo (feral water buffalo) have been in the region since the early 1900s, however, since been introduced by European and Asian settlers. Buffalo were traditionally hunted for their hides, horns and meat but as their numbers grew they began wreaking havoc. As they grazed on stabilising grasses, the buffalo caused a huge environmental impact, letting the fresh water out of the precious swamplands. In the 1970s, there was a mass eradication program to reduce numbers to manageable levels. Former buffalo hunter David Lindner and his partner Patsy Ragler run a little-known operation called the Kakadu Buffalo Farm. Ten thousand hectares of Australian tropical bushland is home to over 500 buffalo in the park. The aim of the farm is to contain buffalo numbers in the park and supply locals with their preferred local meat. Every couple of weeks an animal is caught and supplied to the Kakadu Aboriginal community. Originally from Arnhem Land, Patsy is a skilled hunter of bush foods and an expert in gathering and cooking Indigenous ingredients. She cooks buffalo meat in a ground oven, the traditional way. River stones are heated on a fire until they are white hot, a pit is dug and lined, the meat is laid onto stringy bark leaves, covered with the hot stones and then a huge strip of paperbark. This protects the meat from the covering of dirt that is shovelled over the top to seal the oven and keep in the juices and flavour. Eating the meat without wastage and keeping it within the Park... to Patsy and Dave, this is all part of the natural balance of life, in a beautiful living landscape.
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