This was the astonishing moment, a buffalo thinks he can sneak past a pride of 23 lions, but in whose favor will Mother Nature rule? Did prey or predator prevail?
Rangers and their guests had front-row seats to this unbelievable sighting, which happened on the Ngala Private Game Reserve in the Greater Kruger.
31-Year old field guide, Roan du Plessis was utterly fortunate to experience this moment and shared the exciting story with LatestSightings.com:
“We had been tracking the Birmingham lion pride on foot and stumbled across their babies. Whilst walking back to the vehicle, we heard a buffalo bellowing as if being taken down. Of course, we rushed in the direction of the commotion and found the lions taking down the buffalo.”
“While they were keeping it down and other members suffocating it, a number of buffalo bulls came back to try to chase the lions off. Only one of the old lionesses did not flinch and kept holding on to the nose of the buffalo they had brought down.”
“Eventually, after a bit of a standoff, the pride reclaimed the buffalo and others chased the buffalo bulls away again. This was just pure excitement – it’s not every day that you can live an absolute documentary!”
“The whole pride just ended up fighting with each other for the best spot on the carcass. It was 23 lions feeding on one buffalo, so it only lasted until the afternoon.”
“This was just unbelievable! Two of only three documented wild white lions in the world and we got to watch them be part of killing a buffalo.”
The brave moment of the mother buffalo created a spectacular escape from the lion’s claws.
Dramatic video recorded in northwestern Tanzania (East Africa) shows a fierce confrontation between a mother and daughter buffalo and a herd of lions in an effort to fight for life.
The video opens with a scene of lions besieging, then suddenly attacking a herd of wild buffalo grazing in an open field.
While most members of the herd escaped, one juvenile calf was left behind with its mother.
Immediately, they became the target of the lion’s hunt. Understanding her situation, the mother buffalo bravely rushed to repel the hungry predators.
However, when overwhelmed by the crowd, the mother buffalo appeared confused, and was approached by the lions from many directions.
While it was caught off guard, a lioness grabbed her calves by the neck and dragged her down the slope, away from the mother buffalo.
It seemed that the young wild buffalo would lose its life before the bloodthirsty hunters, but thanks to the determination of the mother buffalo and the timely rescue of her fellows, it created a spectacular escape.
In Africa, buffalo and lion are two closely related species, with buffalo being the main prey of lions, and lions being the biggest natural enemies of buffalo.
Usually, it takes many lions to work together to knock down an adult buffalo, so lions often aim for easy targets such as immature calves, or old buffaloes or injured buffaloes. .
However, the herd behavior of both buffalo and lion is often the cause of dramatic battles when lions do not let go of their prey, and buffaloes do not run away easily.
In which, although wild buffalo are herbivores, they are considered a danger because of their unpredictable nature. At times, reports say the wild buffalo is responsible for more deaths than any other animal in Africa.
Not agile enough due to an old wound, the lion got stuck in the middle of a herd of hundreds of buffaloes and was constantly trampled and rammed into the air.
Buffalo is one of the few creatures in Africa that can cause trouble for lions. Their large horns and massive body mass make them formidable opponents. Lions have to take risks when they want to win hundreds of kilograms of buffalo meat.
“Dark Mane Avoca, one of the lions’ males, didn’t know where to go and was filled with fear. Finally, it ran to the nearby bushes for shelter, but hostility kept the buffalo herd from giving up. The lion was flung into the air like a cloth doll, hit by its horns and trampled on by a series of hooves,” Kelbrick said.
The incident continued for about 15 minutes. Then, the cry of Dark Mane Avoca caught the attention of the lions and turned to chase away the buffalo.
After the incident, the tour group left with mixed emotions, Kelbrick shared. When they returned at the end of the day, they found Dark Mane Avoca still with the Nkuhuma herd but severely injured. “Despite our grief, we should always remember that this is a wild place, nature is sometimes cruel and survival will always be a battle. The male lion has survived the past four years with a limp. and will fight to the last breath,” Kelbrick said.