Ranger Pieter van Wyk captured the action while driving a recent game in MalaMala – a private reserve on the edge of Kruger National Park. Lions are one of the few predators capable of taking down a full-grown buffalo, and proud animals will sometimes follow the herd, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Adult Cape bulls weigh around 900 kg (2,000 lbs) and have a fearsome reputation to boot. Only the toughest predators would dare take on the challenge of targeting these formidable predators, and in doing so, they often have to deal with retaliation from the rest of the herd. Such was the case recently when a proud lion in South Africa’s MalaMala Game Reserve lunged at a struggling bull, but was quickly chased by the bull’s fellow.
At this time, the buffalo seems not to be afraid of the predator, but it slowly walks in front of the prey. But after many hours, the lions decided to attack a buffalo, causing the whole herd of buffaloes to rush up to the nearby bushes to escape.
At this point it seems that a buffalo was bitten by a herd of lions and was injured in the ground so it couldn’t move up a low slope, so it got stuck there.