The Hunt

“My soul is among lions”

-The Bible

Lions are surely at the top of most peoples list when they think of African animals. They have captivated peoples imaginations for as long as there has been civilisations, movies have portrayed them as monsters, cartoons have shown them as friendly characters and documentaries have shown us a glimpse into their social lives.

During a recent safari I was fortunate to witness a hunt and kill by a pride on a Buffalo. We followed them as they moved across open ground up hill to look over the other side.

Shooting using a low angle set up allowed eye level and below shots as the lead lioness led the pride across open ground.

Just over the crest were three Buffalo oblivious to the dangers behind them, seeing what might happen I positioned us on the far side of the Buffalo so we could see the lions coming.

Watching 20+ lions organise into a hunt was mesmerising, looking at the pride it looked like they were all together then suddenly a head would peak over the horizon off to the left - the lions were flanking the buffalo.

They were very overt in their actions moving towards the Buffalo causing them to turn and face as they charged forward.

As the Buffalo moved in other members of the pride would harass them causing confusion in an attempt to separate one. Suddenly the Buffalo were running and so were we albeit on 4 wheels, I was stood out the top of the 4x4 so I could direct the vehicle placement as they headed towards some bushes.

Three lions had separated one of the Buffalo and were jumping on its back, we were moving too fast for me to grab any shots so we carried on to the other side of the bushes.

In the blink of an eye the male lion came out of nowhere and made his move on the Buffalo, clamping his mouth over the Buffalo’s nose and mouth to begin the long process of suffocating it.

The male had the Buffalo clamped in position using his back legs to stop the Buffalo’s front legs from stepping on him all the while the Lionesses and youngsters were nipping the Buffalo and trying to bring it down.

This turned into a war of attrition - who would tire first - we found a tiny gap through the bushes to look down on the scene from where we saw and heard the Buffalo’s final moments. As the Buffalo fell James my guide said it’s all over.

The male stayed clamped on the Buffalo as we heard it struggling for air until it finally succumbed and died right infront of us, all the while being bitten by the other members of the pride.

With the Buffalo dead the pride began to feed, there was a lot of sorting out the pecking order with growls and snarls at each other as they vied for position on the kill.

We were in the only position that offered clear views onto a couple of the lions, I was focussed on one lioness who was challenging another, ears and lips back, blood around the mouth when suddenly she snarled in my direction.

Behaviourally it was interesting to observe the pride feed but photographically its not the best subject matter so we left shortly after this in search of other photo opportunities.