Buffel Armored Personnel Carrier

The Buffel (Afrikaans: Buffalo) is a mine-protected infantry mobility vehicle used by the South African Army during the South African Border War. The Buffel was also used as an armoured fighting vehicle and proved itself in this role. It was replaced by the Mamba from 1995 in South Africa,^[1] but remains in use elsewhere, notably Sri Lanka.

The Buffel was the first truly effective landmine-protected armored personnel carrier to enter service anywhere. The South African Army began deploying it in the operational area from 1978. The Buffel was an improvement over the Bosvark which offered little protection to the driver. In 1974, 54 Mercedes-Benz Unimog 416-162chassis had hastily converted into Bosvark by 61 Base Workshops in Pretoria. Bosvark offered limited landmine protection to the crew, but compensated for this with good off-road mobility.^[1][2]It is estimated that around 2,400 Buffel were delivered before production stopped. Sri-Lanka purchased a number of Buffels in the 1980s, and in the early 1990s the vehicle was exported to Uganda.^[1]


The Buffel (Afrikaans for Buffalo) was not a wholly South African built vehicle, but made use of the chassis, engine and some other components of the Mercedes-Benz U416-162 Unimog,^[1] which were married to the armoured driver's cab and separate armoured troop compartment. The driver's cab was situated on the left with the engine compartment on the right. Later models replaced the original Mercedes-Benz OM352 engine^[1] with copies built under license by Atlantis Diesel Engines factory near Cape Town.


Land mine protection was provided by the V-shaped hull underneath these compartments, which quite effectively deflected the blast. The troop compartment contained two plastic tanks in the vee beneath the floor, a 200 litre diesel tank and a 100 litre water tank. The water tank provided drinking water to the occupants by means of a tap at the rear of the vehicle. It was a commonly held misconception amongst the troops that the weight of the water added to the blast protection.


In order to help dissipate the energy from hitting a mine, the large tires were usually filled with water, adding, as was told, about 500 kg per wheel to the vehicle weight.