A Surprising Nighttime Chase
Night drives offer a unique window into the nocturnal world, when animals like leopards, owls, and big cats become most active, and the bush comes alive with sounds and shadows. On one of these such sunset drives along the H12 bridge in Suzuka, Alex Kyle captured a particularly heart-pounding encounter.
Flashlights from the safari vehicle cut through the darkness, searching for any activity in the bush. All of a sudden, the beams locked onto a hippo barreling onto the road in a full sprint!
Watch the Sighting:
Its massive body was moving with surprising speed. Hot on its heels, four lionesses burst out from the bush, eyes gleaming with predatory focus in the night.
Lionesses Test Their Luck
The lead lioness jumped and tried to hook her front paws into the hippo’s hindquarters for a takedown, but the massive animal’s slippery skin and sheer power threw her off. Too big and too fast, the hippo powered through, barely noticing her attempt.
In the midst of the action, a voice from the safari vehicle cut through the excitement: “I got that on camera!”. As two more lionesses joined the road, the first pair and their prey disappeared into the thick bush on the other side.
Pursuit into the Dark
The vehicle didn’t let up. It began to drive forward in pursuit of the hippo and lionesses, and flashlights swept the shadows trying to locate the targets.
The beams finally caught the first two lionesses again, now frozen in place, staring intently into the undergrowth. In that moment, it became clear that the hippo had managed to slip away.
When Prey Turns the Tables
Hippos may look comical on land, but they’re built for explosive speed in short bursts. They can reach speeds of up to 30 km/h, sometimes even 45 km/h in emergencies, thanks to their powerful leg muscles and hooves that provide excellent traction on mud, grass, or roads.
This speed is enough to outpace even lions over distance. Hippos dominate rivers by day, but nighttime expeditions in search of grass often put them at risk from big cats.
Here, the lionesses gambled on an oversized meal and lost, providing a reminder that even apex predators face limits, especially against animals several times their size.
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Lions do occasionally hunt hippos, but only under desperate conditions, such as targeting calves or isolated individuals. Prides will coordinate to exhaust prey, but success rates against hippos are usually relatively low.
The lionesses from this group were young and therefore lacking the experience to make a good judgement call. This experience will be a valuable lesson for future hunts.
Lionesses Live to Hunt Again
Shoulders slumping, the lionesses abandoned the chase. They eventually sauntered off into the night with empty bellies.
For Alex and his group, the sighting provided a rare glimpse of nature’s high stakes. A failed hunt can be just as thrilling as a success, and shows the raw unpredictability of predator‑prey dynamics under the cover of darkness.
Night drives like this one reveal behaviours we rarely see in daylight, from the hippo’s desperate land sprint to the lions’ calculated risk. This encounter highlights why these after‑dark safaris remain a bucket‑list experience for wildlife enthusiasts.