In a breathtaking close call, a lion narrowly avoided a potentially fatal encounter with a gigantic elephant at a watering hole in Botswana.
The preoccupied lion, engrossed in quenching its thirst, overlooked the impending danger as an elephant charged.
The unsuspecting feline failed to hear the thunderous steps of the approaching pachyderm due to its focus on drinking.
Coming within mere inches of the lion’s head, the elephant was on the verge of trampling the large feline.
Unaware: The huge elephant approached the lion from behind at a watering hole in Nxai Pans in Botswana.
However, a glance upwards saved the day for the lion, which bolted just in the nick of time.
Johan Bernard, a 49-year-old photographer from South Africa, captured this thrilling spectacle in Nxai Pans.
Bernard recounted, “The dusk was setting in, and the male lion was alone at the waterhole. The lion was engrossed in his drink with no other wildlife in sight, oblivious to the surroundings.”
The thirsty lion drank from a watering hole and didn’t notice the elephant approaching him from behind.
These pictures were captured by South African photographer Johan Bernard, 49, who had been observing.
“We noticed an elephant bull also approaching the waterhole. The lion, surprisingly showing no vigilance, continued to drink without any sense of the looming danger.
When the elephant was just a couple of meters away, the lion finally noticed and made a hasty retreat,” he added.
The male lion looks up from the watering hole moments before being trampled by the elephant in Botswana.
Scarper: The lion makes a quick getaway before being crushed under the feet of the enormous elephant.
‘When the elephant was about two to three meters away, the lion lifted his head, saw the elephant, and made a run for it,’ the photographer said.
Quick getaway: The lion managed to get out of the elephant’s path just in time, and the action was caught on camera.
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