When a lion chased an impala into a waterhole, it knew it was simply a matter of time before it got what it wanted. For the poor antelope, its struggle to survive only delayed the inevitable.
Lourenco Afonso & Barry Greenshields submitted this dramatic footage to Latest Sightings. They witnessed the incident while visiting South Africa’s Thornybush Private Game Reserve.
Narrow escape?
As we join the sighting, we see a distressed impala standing at the edge of a waterhole. According to Lourenco and Barry, it had just narrowly escaped being caught by a pack of African wild dogs.
Unfortunately, as you’ll soon see, that was only the beginning of the ordeal. Unbeknownst to the antelope, another predator was closing in.
Limited escape options
Suddenly, the impala took flight again, running along the water’s edge. As it did, a young lioness emerged from the surrounding vegetation.
With a steep bank to its left limiting its options of escape, the frightened antelope needed to come up with a plan, and fast.
In desperation, it jumped into the water. As it did, the lioness brought its pursuit to an abrupt halt. At least for the time being.
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Catch-22
However, as you’re probably well aware, impalas are not renowned for their swimming ability. Consequently, it was forced to swim back to shore to avoid drowning.
Naturally, the lioness had been watching and waiting for just such an eventuality. Accordingly, as the impala got to the shore, it rushed in to finish the job.
But, despite its growing exhaustion, the impala turned and headed back into deeper water. Once again, the lion settled in to wait.
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Hard choices & strange decisions
After swimming around in the pond for some time, the impala got weaker by the moment. Once again, it had no choice but to come to shore.
Strangely, it chose to exit the water at exactly the place where the chase had begun.
A mercifully swift end
As the exhausted antelope struggled to get out of the water, there was no sign of the lioness. However, as we hear people commenting in the video, the lioness had not gone far.
Either the impala didn’t know this, or she was too exhausted to care. Either way, her pursuer would soon seal her fate.
No sooner did she emerge than the lioness pounced. In a flash, she knocked her prey to the ground and delivered a crushing bite to the head.
The impala’s body went instantly limp. Mercifully, her torment was over without any further suffering to endure.
As the video draws to its conclusion, we see the lion effortlessly lift her prize. This encounter serves to remind us that for prey species, even when you think you’re safe, danger is seldom far behind.
