It has been an absolutely tremendous week out here on Chiefs Island in the Okavango Delta. From leopard sightings to hyenas killing antelope, and then to top it off, a threesome of lions killed a massive buffalo just outside one of the tents here in camp. The buffalo managed to run into the water just before the lions finished it off, making for a hectic battle between the crocodiles and lions. Not only that, but an elephant wandered by and, curiously enough, filled his trunk with water and started spraying the lions! He scared them off for a while, then another elephant came and started fighting with the first, just in front of the lions who were nervously eating the buffalo not fifteen feet from the sparring giants. After they moved off, about five or six crocs moved in and began to eat nose to nose with the lions (literally – their faces were less than a foot away at times as they chewed through the carcass) which was quite a spectacle. Both the lions and crocs nervously chewed, keeping an eye on the other, and every once in a while one would make a sudden move giving the other a fright and starting a clash. It was undoubtedly the coolest thing I’ve seen in my nine months over here in Africa, and I ended up spending the entire day sitting in front of that kill and just watching the action. Ahhh what a day, who needs television when you can just prop a chair up and watch lions fighting crocodiles over a buffalo carcass? Only in Africa…
Elephant spraying the lions
Scaring off the lions from the kill
Then the elephants started fighting, right in front of the lions! Look how skeptical those three look…it was as if they were thinking ‘do I dare look away from these angry giants to take a bite of my tasty meal’
Next the crocs moved in
Then the lions came back, literally eating face to face with the crocs
One of the lions tried to pull the carcass out of the water to avoid the crocs, but no such luck.
Confrontation between croc and lion – that’s one angry cat!
All that remains of the 2000 pound buffalo in just 24 hours. It’s amazing how efficient African predators are, and how dangerous this place really is!
Out on drive, we spotted a leopard and followed it around. She hardly even noticed the vehicles.
This leopard is a movie star – she’s been the star of practically every documentary that’s been done on leopards
Sizing up the tree
Finally she found a nice place to rest
Later we bumped into a pride of lions with this young cub
Cub drinking milk from its mother
lets play a little game… who's mouth is this???
Ahh..tis the mouth of this young fellow!
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