Valentin Lavis, a young French biologist and freelance guide, captures an interesting encounter between two predators in Etosha National Park, Namibia. He and two visitors drove to a lake in the park around 5 pm.
“One of the reasons I love this area is that it’s very quiet. You can often see nature without being disturbed. There was a car parked by the lake and we slowly approached. One of my guests suddenly exclaimed ‘Lion.’ A beautiful lioness was sitting in the middle of the open ground, not too far from the lake. Immediately after, I spotted another animal drinking water but smaller, it’s a leopard,” Lavis recounts.
Seconds later, the lion began to sneak up on the young leopard. The animal was not even aware of the lion’s presence. The lioness moved quietly. It wanted to get close enough before it attacked. However, the leopard detects movement and turns around. For a moment, the two predators stared at each other.
Immediately after, the lioness rushed to attack and the leopard ran towards the bushes. Leopards can run at speeds of up to nearly 60 km/h.
With its nimble body, it escaped successfully while the lioness returned to her original place to rest.