I just posted on the Velo Viewer thread that on this weekend’s ride I took a bridleway that went through a field of water buffalo. I’m not really up on my buffalo identification skills, so only identified them as such when I got home. They were definitely big strange cows, and I vaguely remembered something about African buffalo being particularly dangerous and bad tempered, so was a little nervous. On the other hand, surely, if they were dangerous they wouldn’t be in a field on a public right of way, or someone would have put up a sign or something. Wouldn’t they? Fortunately they showed almost no interest in me - perhaps they’d already eaten.
A rather more alarming encounter was several years ago with a herd of young cows on a different bridleway. They were probably just curious and playful, but I didn’t know that at the time. They waited until I was far away from the gate, approached to about 20 m, watched me for a bit, then took off and did a thunderous high speed lap of the field. Upon getting back to where I was, they got a little closer, maybe 10 m. Then another lap, a little closer, etc. I made as much progress towards the exit as I could while they were running, but It was clear that they could complete their circuit in far less time than it would take me to get out. The closer they get the more they seem to surround you. Eventually they had backed me up to the hedge and were practically licking my bike, which seemed terribly insubstantial when it’s they only thing between you and them. Somehow I survived.
