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Lions at the dam – and then was just chaos

  • September 16, 2022 | Rhulani Safari Lodge

«What a wonderful time we had, one of my best sightings”, tells us Rhulani's ranger Willem, who clearly shows the joy and passion in his job. “Myself and my colleague Ralf were both involved in this lion sighting, which was absolutely amazing at Thlou dam, where we had two female lions hunting”. But let’s listen what actually happened.

Ralf was joining the sighting

Two lioneses at Thlou dam

“Lions, lions, lions”, shouted my guests, when we approached the dam, and we were the only vehicle there. What an excitement!

One female was in stalking mode, as her attention was fixed on a herd of impalas.

But between her and the impalas there was a big flock of guineafowls which held the lioness back from giving her position away.

But all of a sudden, a zebra broke out of nowhere and it was walking probably no more than fourty meters from the two lions and both were fixed on the zebra, which came closer and closer and closer.

In the meantime, Ralf had joined us, and after a while as the lionesses weren't successful with either the impala or the zebra, we decided to start making our way back to the lodge.

Only two minutes later, the radio just went wild with Ralf's excitement and he alerted that an entire herd of buffalo made their way to the dam. Probably more than 150, so a very big herd!

We turned back, and the buffaloes came right out from where we had left the lions. The cats were lying flat on the ground, only a few meters away, waiting for an opportunity.

But all of a sudden when one lioness flicked up the tail, one of the buffalo bulls noticed it, he gave one sound, and then was just chaos. The entire herd turned around, and some buffaloes started to charge the lioness. One female ran over the dam wall and the other one behind us. The buffalo bulls pushed them back deeper and deeper into the sickle bush.

So, this was an absolute amazing experience!