The lion hunt

We set off on a guided night safari and had no idea what we were in for. Driving past familiar wilderbeast, buffalo, springboks, and impalas we thought we would see many of the same sightings as we'd seen that day.

All of a sudden, our guide received a call over the radio- a lion sighting near by- and they were hunting! We sped and bumped over the road towards where the lions were, but they had disappeared. Our guide asked if we would mind sitting quietly in the truck to see if the lions came back. The other safari trucks sped off and left us in the dark night.

We waited in the stillness, trying to keep our arms inside the truck just in case a lion was pacing silently next to the truck. The guide scanned the area with an infrared light and we caught sight of two lionesses close to our truck looking very alert and focussed. The light was switched off and we sat in the dark silence again, aware of the closeness of the lions just outside our truck...

Suddenly, a deep painful cry rang through the blackness. The infrared light shone on the two lionesses as watched them tear apart a baby wilderbeast just metres from our truck. The sound of bones crunching, and flesh being torn off- was like heavy carpet being ripped up. We watched the lionesses lapping the warm blood, and pawing at the balloon like stomach which popped out of the dying wilderbeast.

The lionesses were gorging themselves as fast as they could in case any other hungry creature came along and wanted to share the catch. They occasionally stopped to regurgitate because they were eating so quickly.

Some brave punters watched with binoculas, but this was too much detail for the vegetarian of the group- who watched through the gaps in her fingers, between gasps of horror and fascination.

Our guide explained how incredibly rare it is to see a lion hunt and actually catch and eat their prey. He has been working everyday taking people on safaris and only ever seen a lion do this once in his whole life. We couldn't believe how lucky we were to witness this once in a lifetime experience...