Lionesses generally don’t hunt large buffalo alone, but this ambitious female took on a buffalo one on one and came out victorious. After the hard work was done, the male then took over… However, this lioness obviously took some lessons from wild dogs, which are known to eat their prey alive!
This brutal sighting was captured by 52-year-old General Manager at Jock Safari Lodge, Louis Strauss, at the Jock Concession close to the H3/S113 in Kruger National Park while out on a drive.
Louis tells LatestSightings.com the story: “Early morning, I had I heard a bit of a buffalo commotion from out in the bush. I climbed onto a nearby rocky outcrop and scanned the vicinity. Around 2km away I then got visual of a herd of buffaloes running, while a few of the big bulls turning around, so I knew a chase was on!”
“I know there are lions in the area, so with the distress calls, it surely must have been a pride of lions chasing the herd.”
“As I got to the scene, I spotted a lioness in the reeds. The lioness’s sisters all have cubs at the moment which is why they are all hunting individually. I was really excited, as even after working in the Kruger for 12 years, a lioness successfully catching a buffalo on her own is not a common sighting.”
“I immediately called the sighting in on the radio so the other rangers could bring their guests to see the action. The rangers know that when I say “Shova”, it means “get a move on” and that the sighting is good, so they all responded extremely quickly!”
“In the end, just before the lioness could get a proper feed, a male lion took the buffalo from her and spent the day feeding. But, in the late evening, 3 lionesses then fed on the buffalo. The next day, at night, the dominant males of the area chased the first, Mpondo Male lion, from the buffalo and while that was happening, hyenas took over and finished off the buffalo to the bone.”
The buffalo herd gathered to form a wall around the male lions on the road with one side of the swamp, the other side was the enemy who demanded his life.
Eric Baccega caught a fight between a lion and a herd of buffalo in the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, Media Drum World reported yesterday. The lion got stuck between the swamp and the angry buffalo, trying to escape by lying on the ground before a buffalo rushed to chase it. Knowing that the danger was near, the male lion suddenly jumped up and ran at full speed.
“The male lion and the female lion killed a wild buffalo and got trapped in the mud in the swamp. Not long after, the forest cycads arrived. The female lion quickly escaped but the male lion fell into a regressive position. dilemma, behind is swamp, in front is a herd of buffalo. It was forced to jump up to hide deeper into the swamp,” Baccega said.
“Due to the separation of the swamp, the buffaloes could not get close to the lion. We had to leave then because it was already dark. As a rule, we had to return to the camp, otherwise we would have lingered longer. The next morning, we saw the lion near the swamp, but the buffalo was gone,” Baccega said.
The African buffalo or Cape buffalo is one of the five large animals in Africa along with elephants, rhinos, lions and leopards. The horns of an adult buffalo have a characteristic curved shape with a contiguous base. They are considered very dangerous animals, estimated to kill 200 people a year. Aside from lions and large crocodiles, the African buffalo has few predators in the wild and is well-defended.