A full-out brawl broke loose in the middle of the road when a leopard thought he would make a quick meal of a baboon. The leopard came charging towards the family at full speed, but the male baboons weren’t having any of it.
The first video we shared of this sighting (Leopard Attacked by 50 Baboons in the Middle of the Road – Epic Battle!!) hit over 83 million views!! That angle shows the leopard’s sneaky ways and his speedy retreat, but this angle shows a very unique point of view of the baboon’s tactics and their quick response!
38-year-old Merve Mersinligil, a pianist and pedagogue (piano professor), was on her very first Kruger National Park safari with her husband, 44-year-old Lawyer Viktor Szontagh, when she captured this all on camera. She tinged her sighting and shared her story with LatestSightings.com.
Merve and her hubby had just arrived at Kruger a couple of hours prior, excited for their honeymoon stay at Satara Camp. They were driving from Paul Kruger Gate to Tshokwane when BAM! Out of the blue, they spotted a leopard walking right next to the road. He looked very relaxed and not in any particular hurry.
Then suddenly the leopard disappeared into the grass, and the moment was over. Or so they thought. A troop of baboons decided to cross the road, creating a traffic jam of their own. Now, you know baboons are cheeky and full of energy, so you can imagine the chaos and noise they created.
I said to my hubby jokingly “Maybe we should give the baboons a heads-up about the leopard that we just saw”. “I had a good laugh, especially since this was my first time in the African wilderness.”
“But guess what? That’s exactly what happened. The leopard burst onto the scene, probably thinking it was going to get an easy meal. But this leopard was about to learn a lesson in party-crashing. The female baboons, protective, ran back to guard their young while the male baboons went full-on attack mode. The charge was led by what looked like the dominant male. He jumped the leopard almost like a rugby tackle, biting, hitting, and shouting like there was no tomorrow.”
The leopard miraculously managed to escape the baboon attack, with some of the big males hot on its tail. These baboons weren’t playing games! They even stood guard after the dust settled, making sure Mr. Leopard got the memo: “You ain’t welcome here, buddy.