Watch The Sighting:
Mike Sutherland, founder of Escape Safari Co, experienced this jaw-dropping sighting while on a private game drive in Mombo Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana. It was a beautiful morning, and his group was admiring the bush teeming with baby animals—warthogs, impalas, and wildebeest—all born in the last few days.
When the group paused to observe a herd of impala resting near the boundary of a dry floodplain, they neglected to notice that one of the babies had been left unattended. Unfortunately for the young impala, its isolation also caught the attention of two other predators lurking in the shadows.
A Struggle for Survival
A python, secretly watching the baby impala from above, slowly slithered down from a nearby Bushwillow tree. It silently approached its unsuspecting victim, camouflaged perfectly between the leaves on the ground.
One second, the impala was stepping over the snake, and then, in a flash, it was tightly coiled within its strong body. The baby immediately let out cries of distress, which not only drew the attention of Mike and his group but also the second predator who had been patiently waiting for its opportunity.
A Hyena Joins the Chaos
As the python constricted, slowly draining the life of the poor baby impala, a hyena quickly approached, contemplating how to take advantage of the situation. Mike’s group gasped in shock as they began to understand what was about to occur in front of them.
The hyena didn’t wait long before deciding the was a meal worth stealing. It tried to grab the impala stuck firmly in the python’s jaws, but the snake refused to surrender its kill.
After a few more unsuccessful attempts at tug-of-war, the struggle intensified, and the hyena decided to try a new strategy. It bit the snake, again and again, hoping the pain would force it to let go of its prize, but the snake held on.
Eventually, the hyena picked the snake and impala up as one big package and dragged them several meters away.
The python decided it had finally had enough of the harassment. It released its prey and slithered away, leaving the hyena to claim its meal.
Lessons from the Wild
As the mother impala watched in agony while the hyena quickly devoured her baby, Mike reminded his group that although nature can be cruel, it is always important not to interfere. This interaction teaches one about the brutality of survival in the wild and that nature is always unpredictable.
With 12 years of guiding experience, Mike Sutherland had never witnessed a sight like this, proving that nature always has new surprises in store. “This was an extremely rare sighting and the first time in 12 years of guiding across Africa that I had witnessed something like this!”