This extremely rare and brutal sighting was seen 2 days ago at Mestel Dam, Kruger National Park. Kyle Mills, 26-year-old data analyst, photographed the sighting while on his trip to the game reserve.
Later, we received the footage! Danica Roux, 28-year-old chef, filmed the stampede while on holiday with her family in the Kruger National Park.
Kyle Mills tells his story: “I left Pretoriuskop Camp at around 3 pm on the 12th of December, with the intention to watch the beautiful sunset at Transport dam. Upon consulting the map book, I saw there was another dam nearby, this being Mestel.”
“I hadn’t ever been there before and decided to drive there and see if there was water. As soon as I arrived, there was one other vehicle and there didn’t seem to be much going on at the dam. I decided to take a quick scan with binoculars and, in doing so, noticed a leopard lying in the shade beneath a tree across the dam. I informed the driver of the other vehicle and we sat watching it for about 30 minutes before three impalas made their way down and the leopard began taking an interest.”
“At this point, I contacted my dad and grandfather to come down to witness a potential hunt. By the time they arrived the impala had moved off and the leopard returned to the shade, shortly after this a large herd of buffalo made their way down to the water, surrounding the leopard.”
“A few of them noticed it and chased it up a tree. We decided to stay and see if anything further would happen between the leopard and buffalo. We had no idea there were two lionesses hiding in the reeds nearby. Quite suddenly, the buffalo began stampeding across the shoreline of the dam kicking up a lot of dust. I began taking photos of this dramatic scene when I noticed that it almost looked like the buffalo were tripping over each other, there was a lot of movement in the middle of the herd. It was then that I noticed something strange and realized there was a lion in the middle of the herd. They then began tossing the lioness into the air repeatedly. It was soon evident that she was dead, however, the buffalo continued tossing her.”
“Some game vehicles started arriving at this point. The buffalo tossed the body into the water and cautiously sniffed at it. The second lioness was then spotted on our side of the bank, having escaped the buffalo. The herd began dispersing with a few individuals remaining behind. These individuals then continued to toss the body of the lioness around, when the second lioness confronted them, only to be chased away.”
“Once the last buffalo left, the surviving lioness approached the body of the dead one, sniffing at it and looking around. She then went and lay a short distance away until hippo began chasing her.”
“With the gates closing soon we headed back to camp with the leopard laying in the tree 150m from where the lioness was killed and the surviving lioness returning to lay next to the body.”
“At first there was shock and surprise at how surreal it was to witness something that you only hear about or see in documentaries. Then, once the realisation hit that I was witnessing quite a brutal killing of a lion, I felt a few mixed emotions.”
“Yes, it was saddening to see it happen in such a way, but then there was still the sense of excitement at having the privilege to document such an incredible display of nature.”
“Watching the surviving lioness approach the body was quite a sad moment, as there’s this realisation that there was some sort of bond between these two animals, enough to make the surviving lioness lay down, almost as if waiting for the other lioness to get up.”
“The sighing ended with the buffalo moving off and the surviving lioness laying down close to the body.”
“I have never seen anything like this before and speaking to my grandfather who has visited the Kruger yearly for the past 50 years, neither has he. I doubt I will ever witness something like this again.”
“As hard as a sighting like this is to watch, if you have a camera just don’t stop shooting. Capture every moment as it’s something you may never see again.”
Danica tells LatestSightings.com the story:
“We actually had a rather quiet afternoon, sightings wise. There were plenty of impala and so many lambs. We’d been driving for about an hour before we decided to turn in at the dam on our way back to camp. And, I’m so glad we did!”
“The dam was inundated with buffaloes, a few Waterbuck and naturally, a pod of Hippos wallowed, minding their own business.”
“We were just about to leave when we heard a bit of commotion off to the side of the herd. I saw a lioness being chased off and of course, I was quite thrilled at our luck, the first game drive of our stay and here we have a lion.”
“My excitement quickly turned to confusion and shock when I realized what was unfolding in front of my eyes. The poor lioness, this majestic predator had gotten herself stuck in the crosshairs of this enormous herd of buffalo. Their survival instincts kicked in and it was chaos, she was tossed about like she weighed nothing.”
“I grabbed my little camera and started recording as soon as possible. Her lifeless body was eventually flung at the base of the dam, left there, limp. We heard another lion calling nearby. We were all left feeling completely shocked and saddened by the events.”
“The sighting ended for us when the buffalo left her at the edge of the dam, we drove on in search of the rest of her pride, but sadly we could only hear them and never actually caught sight of them.” In Kyle Mills’ photos, you can see one lioness from the pride coming to sit with the trampled lioness, as if hoping she would wake up!
“I have never in my life seen anything like this. I’ve been coming to the bush with my parents since I was in nappies, this is definitely the first and probably the last time I’ll see anything like this.”
“If someone finds themselves in the same situation, start filming long before anything happens ?, or, at the very least, have your camera ready! You never know what the bush will give you. Never assume you know what will happen next.”
“Nature is an incredible thing. When you think it can’t get crueler, it does, when you think it can’t get any more magnificent, you’ll be surprised. It’s not every day that the prey becomes the killer, but sometimes it does happen.”
