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Don’t ever think that when you come to the African bush, wishing to see what you have seen on National Geographic and what took them 10 years in the making cannot happen in seconds! While on game drive with South African guests, one of our rangers Eugene found this out in all its reality.

A female lion that they were watching decided to all of a sudden take the opportunity to hunt a young blue wildebeest. This in contradiction with popular believe that lions don’t hunt during the heat of the day. It was past 9 o’ clock and the temperature had soured to over 30 degrees.

She did not kill the calf quickly, but rather called her cubs that were in the long grass, and let them practise their killing skills on the young calf.

At first there were not too many interested cubs. The calf saw an opportunity and tried to get away. The female pushed her way through the cubs and by using one paw flattened the calf again. This time she displayed to the cubs by keeping a longer grip on the throat of the young calf.

Some of the cubs now got interested and once mom let go, they took up position.

The reality of the African bush not only dawned on the guests that had witnessed and photographed the whole scenario, but also with our other guests on game viewers that had by now joined to see this age old African ritual unfold.

Watching the different body languages when the guests arrived back at the lodge, made me once again realize that when the penny drops and we admit to how vulnerable we as homo sapiens are when it comes to Mother Nature – is always and will always be a very humbling experience. For the ranger to then manage both tears and ecstasy whilst hosting the breakfast table, becomes a real challenge.

We aim to feed the soul!