Guests frequently ask, how often do you see the Lions or Leopard kill something? My response is that any predator is always on the look out for the next meal, we just have to be in the right place at the right time with a hungry carnivoure.
The other night my guests and I were following three Lions, an adult female and her sub-adult male and female youngsters. They were playfully and slowly walking down the middle of the road, with the mother every now and then scent marking bushes. As it got darker we saw a change in their behaviour. They kept lifting their heads and smelling into the bushes.
Just as another vehicle was about to come and view them, the Lions ran into a mitre drain and into the bushes. There proceeded, from the thick bushes, growling sounds, a snuff, a snort, more growling and then the three Lions ran for all they were worth straight at our vehicle and around the back. Chasing after them was a heard of now VERY angry buffalo. I was able to move the vehicle just before the buffalo ran straight into us and the buffalo ran past and chased the lions for the next 15-20 minutes.
We then proceeded to a sighting with three Leopards on an Impala kill. The visual was on and off as the kill was in a Raisin Bush thicket, but the crunching sounds of the Leopard’s carnassicial shears was clearly audible, as was the sight of the rib cage covered in blood. What an action packed night on drive!
By: Noelle DiLorenzo – River Lodge Ranger
