Watch: Buffalo lacking in climbing skills has last laugh on lions
A pride of eight hungry lionesses hoped to score an easy meal when a buffalo got stuck on a steep bank, unable to get a hind leg up and over a large dirt embankment.
In video footage captured at MalaMala Game Reserve in the Greater Kruger National Park of South Africa, a buffalo herd is seen retreating to higher ground, and it was seemingly out of danger from the lions, except for the older bull who lacked climbing skills.
“It was a sitting duck, unable to defend itself and the lionesses knew that, and they moved in for the kill, being watched by younger cubs of the pride,” game ranger Pieter van Wyk told Kruger Sightings.
The video footage opens with the buffalo herd moving the calves behind the larger males, closing ranks to form a defensive wall. Then the herd headed for higher ground and discovered the elder statesman in need of a rescue. At one point, a lioness pawed its hind quarters.
“But the male buffalo were not going to give up on their herd member and charged the lionesses, again and again, until they gave up on having it for lunch,” van Wyk said. “It was an extremely captivating and adrenaline-pumping sighting, and one of my best.”
As you can see in the video, the elder buffalo finally did manage to get its footing and joined the herd in protective mode on higher ground.
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“The buffalo is a prized trophy for big-game hunters who, apart from humans, its only predators are lions and crocodiles,” Kruger Sightings stated. “They can stand at up to 5 feet, 6 inches in height.
“But this time the Kings of the Jungle came off second best to the ‘Buffalo Soldiers.’”
Photos courtesy of Kruger Sightings.