Overview

• South African authorities opened a formal inquest on August 7 to investigate the circumstances of the unprovoked buffalo goring that killed Watkins.
• CV Safaris has notified Watkins’s ex-wife, Courtney, and teen daughter, Savannah, and is aiding relatives at the Limpopo lodge as well as in the United States.
• Watkins, 52, a Texas ranch broker and managing partner of Watkins Ranch Group, was tracking a 1.3-tonne Cape buffalo in the 50,000-acre Bambisana concession on August 3 when the animal charged at roughly 35 mph.
• It remains unknown whether the buffalo was killed by the hunting party or escaped back to its herd after the fatal charge.
• Cape buffaloes, nicknamed “Black Death” for their unpredictability and strength, account for about 200 human fatalities each year and pose a greater threat to hunters than lions, rhinos or crocodiles.