This is the dramatic moment a zebra in Kᴇɴʏᴀ escaped a lion’s grasp when the large animal ambushed it as it crossed a river. Video captures the predator charging at the zebra and briefly getting a hold of it before the victim raised its rear legs and ran away from the danger.
Graham Boulnois and his wife Jenny Varley, who were on safari, captured the encounter in Maasai Mara on camera. The zebra could be seen walking through the water towards the river while blissfully unaware of the approaching danger as the lion began to stalk nearby.
However, the lioness emerged from hiding behind a ɢʀᴀssy mound as the zebra got ᴄʟᴏsᴇr to the bank. The sᴛᴀʀᴛʟᴇd zebra rotated around, raised its hind legs, and moved in the direction of the water. The courageous zebra bucked and shook off the lioness’ momentary hold on her prey. The large cat was thwarted and did not pursue the zebra as it made its getaway.
Graham remarked as he observed the conversation: They had seen a lot of lions that day and were a little bummed that there wouldn’t be a leopard around. They did notice that the lioness was on the same side of the river as a small group of zebras, though. Because the lioness’ feet were wet, they deduced that she had attempted to capture a zebra as it was crossing the river but had been unsuccessful.
Because two of the herd had yet to cross the river and were obviously quite anxious as a result of her prior ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ attempts, they finally understood why she was hiding on the riverside. The lioness pounced as one of the zebras finally moved. In response, the zebra kicked out and came ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀᴏᴜsly ᴄʟᴏsᴇ to injuring the lioness.
They were both fortunate to survive the collision. Rarely do lionesses ʜᴜɴᴛ by themselves; instead, they prefer to follow herds and take out the weak, young, and elderly animals in packs. It appears that this ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ was by ᴀᴄᴄɪᴅᴇɴᴛ.