Water Buffalo can’t escape becoming dinner for a pride of Lions

The female predators can be seen surrounding their skinny-looking prey before launching their attack at Sabi Sand, a game reserve in South Africa.

Hopelessly outmatched, the youngster tried to fend the lionesses off by heading into a watering hole, but they simply lay in wait for their dinner to emerge before launching a final, fatal assault. 

Photographer Peter Fridle, 59, captured the incredible moment while out on safari, and was surprised by the how the kill unfolded. 

 

‘We arrived at the waterhole early in the morning, and a pride of five lions was sleeping close to the water,’ he said.

‘From another direction, two buffaloes tried to get to the water, and the lions hunted one of them. The buffalo was smart but too weak. To get the lions off, he moved to the nearby water, knowing lions hate it. You don’t see that very often.

‘But unfortunately, the buffalo had to leave the water eventually because he was too exhausted.

‘In a final attack, the lions overthrew the buffalo and kept him to the ground. One of the lions bit into the throat to suffocate the buffalo.

‘The whole thing lasted for about thirty-minutes, and it took about fifteen-minutes to kill the buffalo’

Lion populations have plummeted in the past century, dropping from an all-time high of nearly a million cats down to today’s estimate of just 20,000.

Peter considers himself very fortunate to have been able to capture an increasingly rare phenomenon.

‘What I love about this kind of thing is that it’s pure wildlife, wild and deadly. It’s definitely gruesome, but also thrilling.’