Wa(te)r Buffalo

[Capt. Fantastic]

Turns out that in the Vietnam Conflict water buffalo provided a low-tech solution to a vexing problem of modern warfare. It was always a concern to those operating armored vehicles whether the ground could support the vehicle's weight. This data was provided by so-called trafficability studies.

From the website

http://www.strategypage.com/

one notes:

"Since it was not always possible to make a trafficability study of a particular area before going into action, the troops developed an effective rule-of-thumb: If water buffalo were seen grazing in a rice paddy or swampy area, the bottom was firm enough for tanks and APCs to pass."

Not sure how this relates to Phuket but it is interesting.