Our Australian water Buffalo are big, heavy animals with no natural predators. So they'll typically stand their ground, or if something takes their interest, they'll actually come in for a look. With the wind right, they are reasonably easy to stalk. But they are equally tough to kill and can carry a heavy bullet well, they are heavy-boned and extremely thick-skinned. They live in quite large family groups, but like Cape Buff, the challenge with Buff is finding a big old lone bull. They are quite widespread across the north of the Northern Territory (not "Territories" as is often stated!) With the largest numbers throughout the Arnhemland aboriginal lands.
Banteng are found in a much smaller area (though still a very large wilderness) of Cobourg Peninsula, which is the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park. It was once fenced across the Peninsula, but this has long been in a state of disrepair. This is a quite heavily forested area with some floodplains, and Banteng live in smaller groups. Often, old bulls can be found alone or in groups of 2-3, living on remote springs which feed most of the valleys there, and this makes for exciting hunting. They are very wary to stalk, more like a deer than a Buffalo, one must keep movement to a minimum, stay quiet and observe the wind. And I'd say more likely to charge out of the blue. They are a little smaller then buffalo and thinner skinned.
The range of buffalo and Banteng does overlap somewhat, especially outside the National Park in the floodplain areas. But the nucleus of each is separate, and for many hunts you'd hunt buff and scrub bull, then relocate further north for Banteng.
A lot of the cost of Banteng hunts are access related, as they are only found on limited Aboriginal owned land, whereas buff are more widespread in larger numbers. But either hunt is taking you into extremely remote country, where there are very few, if any people. So running costs are considerable, as are royalties. The NT is truly one of the world's greatest wilderness areas I believe, and any true adventurer will love it there.
Please be aware if booking a guided hunt, there are a few things to ask for. Any outfitter MUST have a Corporate Licence to run Safaris, which includes insurance. Then they must have a land access agreement through the Northern Land Council or other relevant body. It sounds simple, but the there are a few dodgy operators up there unfortunately.
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