When most imagine going on a safari — expecting to see animals in their natural habitat is well — natural.
What you may not imagine?
A lion clinging to a giraffe’s back.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Image via pexels
And while you may be thinking, “oh, that’s adorable!” or “wow, nature is amazing!” —- hold on.
It wasn’t a lion cub and it wasn’t the most pretty sight.
The lion and the giraffe were not exactly on fantastic terms as the lion wanted to eat the giraffe.
Naturally.
To be exact, there were six lions that stalked the giraffe in South Africa on January 18th, at the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve.
The pride noticed that the giraffe was injured and as it grazed, they attacked.
Two lions shot for the giraffe’s back while the other attacked its legs.
The back-straddling lion that you see in the above picture is said to have clung on to the exhausted giraffe for a whole two minutes.
It later gave up and joined up with the rest of the pride.
And while the giraffe’s legs were both bloodied and wounded — it was thankfully able to fend off the lions for four whole hours by kicking at them before they eventually, collectively, decided this massive meal was not worth it.
Emily Whiting, Safari guide, said: “I have certainly never seen anything like it.”
“It is a one in a lifetime sighting even amongst seasoned guides.”
“My guests and I were amazed – we stayed at the sighting for over three hours as the temperature increased and breakfast time passed – we couldn’t tear ourselves away.”
“I knew we would likely never see anything like it again so certainly did not want to miss a single second.”
She continued, saying she was “impressed” by the giraffe, despite how they were secretly rooting for the lions.
She shared:
“In the end we were disappointed that the lions had missed their meal but all of us were impressed by the giraffe’s fight for life. He deserved to live another day.”
And while this giraffe was lucky to see another day, back in October, a baby giraffe was not as fortunate.
While on safari in Shamwari Private Game Reserve, South Africa, Claire Radloff filmed a bittersweet scene along with ranger Kevin Buys.
In footage that was taken on October 12, a newborn attempts to get to its feet — falling over while its mother stood close by.
And within just a few hours, the baby had learned to stand and taken its first steps.
But a very large male lion saw the baby giraffe, stalking the small animal.
The lion then pounces on the baby while the the female lion comes from the bushes to join in on the meal.
Claire said the giraffe’s life was only around two hours and 20 minutes long.
She said:
“I have never experienced anything like this before.
“It was such an incredibly unique and amazing sighting to witness the circle of life unfold in the blink of an eye.”
“Kelvin and I decided to stick around to see how long it would take for the baby to take its first steps as we were rooting for the little one.”
“The entire sighting from birth to death lasted around two hours and 20 minutes.”
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