One of my wildest dreams came true on 14th August this year deep in the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana. I watched eight female lions and their cubs chase and kill an old and lonely buffalo. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I was watching nature in its purest form from only ten meters away! It took the lions a total of an hour and a half to kill the poor buffalo however, I didn’t feel sorry for him, this was the way of life. The food chain was being demonstrated right in front of me. The lions completed the kill at about 5pm and to my surprise didn’t begin to eat the buffalo right away, they were exhausted. They needed to drink and rest before they could begin to feast on their kill. What occurred next was most fascinating, although slightly scary, as I only had my tent between the animals and myself that night!
The buffalo had been killed about a hundred yards from our campsite so when we went back to camp after the kill we could still hear and see all the action going on around us. Despite the lions best effort to keep the kill a secret by burying the intestines the vultures had spotted it and were watching from above, soon enough the hyenas caught sight of the vultures and the smell of the kill wafted over to their dens. Hyenas are dominated by the females, are largely nocturnal and are lone animals unless they have just had cubs. This means they have to communicate to each other that there has been a kill. It is the most amazing sound I have ever heard. It’s true what they say – hyenas do laugh!
The politics of the animal world had begun. The lions were eating their kill, however the sun was setting and the hyenas were getting hungry. The hyenas were calling to each other; a very loud call, which sounds like a fierce screech, and can be heard for miles around. Typically hyenas wouldn’t dare challenge lions because the lions are stronger and bigger. However in this case there were only female and cub lions so if the hyenas could outnumber the lions by a large enough number they could claim the kill as their own. We went out in the dead of night to watch and listen. My ears couldn’t decide what to listen to first. I could hear the lions eating and purring with pleasure. I could hear the hyenas calling to each other then greeting each other with giggles and laughter. I could hear the crunch as the lions pulled apart the buffalo.
The hyenas made a few half-hearted attempts to scare the lions away but the lions just roared loudly and the hyenas back away. The animals were gearing up to fight and the noises were just immense. It was about 10pm when there were finally enough hyenas and enough darkness to scare the lions away. The hyenas could feast with hardly any effort at all; they had stolen the lions’ dinner.
We returned in the morning to see that the hyenas had demolished the buffalo – their jaws are so strong that they can eat bone too! When the sun came up the hyenas rushed back to their dens and the lions sheepishly returned to what was left of their kill, very much disheartened and still hungry. It was both captivating and educating watching the animals interact with each other and the constant fight for survival that exists in the African bush. I felt truly honoured that I had been able to witness such a miracle of the world.
Images Sources: Own Photography
By Victoria Gleeson