Buffalo are predominantly grazers. A list of grass species eaten by buffalo has been compiled from three major studies. A significant proportion of these species occur in Namibia, as indicated in the table. This is by no means a complete list and it is likely that many species which occur in Namibia and which are not on the list would also be acceptable food for buffalo.

The utilisation and trampling of old stands of grass is important for other species in opening them up and making the new growth available to them.

 

It is also well documented that buffalo include a small proportion of woody browse plants in their diet during the dry season. Pienaar (1969) records

• mopane
• Grewia
• Dichrostachys
• Combretum
• Ozoroa
• Euclea
• Diospyros
• Securinega spp

Taylor (1985) studied the response of buffalo to the grass Panicum repens on the shores of Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe where buffalo numbers increased from some 800 animals in 1974 to over 3,000 (a density of 8 buffalo/km2) in 1983. All of the Panicum species recorded by researchers in southern Africa as preferred by buffalo (P. coloratum, P. maximum, P. repens) occur in a broad swathe across southern Africa and are present in the northern areas of Namibia.