Incredible footage of a leopard grabbing hold of a warthog and trying to pin it to the ground. But the screams from the warthog attract an unwelcomed hyena which ruins the hunt for both! But the warthog sure is happy.
In the bush, you have to get used to winning some and losing some. This leopard learned that the hard way! While this leopard was almost successful at getting his meal of the day – a distraction by a hyena caused him to not only lose a meal but to almost get injured by his meal!
In Sabi Sabi’s bushveld, you will never be disappointed by the incredible animal sightings the rangers and visitors capture. Daniel Hitchings, a 22-year-old Game ranger at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve shared the story behind this sighting with latestsightings.com and we were fascinated!
“It was the 10th of October, shortly before the end of a morning safari drive with my guests and the weather was cloudy and windy. Sightings-wise, it was relatively quiet, so we drove around and joined a sighting of a male leopard where other safari vehicles were also parked. We spent quite some time at the spot, watching the leopard move against the wind, which then lead him to a steenbok, then impala. He got onto a termite mound to view more impala and we thought that we might get to witness an early morning hunt.”
“We were surprised to note that he suddenly lost interest in the impala to focus his attention on the huge hole just below him which I knew was an active warthog burrow. It was all so sudden, we watched the leopards’ behaviour change. First, he was still very uncertain if the hole was empty or not, so it just kept staring and waited…”
“Within 5 minutes of us waiting in anticipation, a huge warthog made a dash for it and in a split second, the leopard jumped on top of the warthog, catching a ride mid-air and tripped the warthog with pure weight and surprise! We sat in total astonishment as the squeals of the warthog traveled through the windy bushveld.”
“We watched the leopard wrestle to keep hold of the warthog as they were both almost the same size and then the leopard managed to maneuver the warthog belly up getting a proper grip. Just as we thought it was over, a hyena appeared from the thickets and ran toward the sound of the squealing warthog! What a sighting!”
“The leopard got distracted by the approaching hyena, and when the leopard took his eyes off the warthog and loosened its grip to launch an intimidating snarl at the hyena, the warthog made good use of the opportunity! It got to its feet quickly, launched a tusked thrust at the leopard and ran for its life!”
“This was a once in a lifetime sighting! You know it’s an extremely special sighting when you see the reactions of the other rangers too, who have witnessed all types of other animal behaviours. After the injured warthog got away, it ended up sitting in the hole for another two days with the leopard and some hyenas staying close by in case the warthog tries to make a second move.
The leopard eventually dug and drag the warthog out of the hole and then losing it to the hungry hyenas.”
WATCH:
“It’s on days when you expect the least that sightings like this one blows your mind. So all I can advise it to take it all in! Although sightings like these are often hard to watch this is nature in its rawest form.”