There are few places in Africa where there is a very real chance of seeing lions hunt during the heat of the day. Duba Plains in the Okavango Delta, is one place where this is often seen and we were fortunate to be there at the right moment.
To the casual observer, when you look out across the plains of Duba, there seems to be an endless supply of food for the lions in the form of warthogs dotting the landscape and large herds of Red Lechwe antelope, making up the bulk of the antelope species. This does however mean that there are hundreds of eyes, ears and noses constantly on the lookout for any form of predators.
During our time there we managed to find the lions early each morning, enjoying the cool temperatures. The cubs were always playful giving us some great viewing, but it was a hunt that we were hoping to watch and photograph.
On day two we watched an attempt by one of the lionesses to sneak up on a large male warthog, but with no luck. It wasn’t until day four, that after spending the entire day parked next to sleeping lions and almost at the point of heading back, that a pair of male lechwe clashed horns in a serious fight, which immediately had the lionesses up and making a B line for them.
How the lions missed it, I still am not sure, as it seemed a sure thing! The male lechwe’s were so focused on fighting they didn’t see the lionesses running into them. Only at the last moment did they realize and manage to barely escape being caught. The show wasn’t over for us yet, as only minutes later testosterone kicked in and the males began fighting once again. Sure enough the lionesses headed straight for them and chased them across a shallow flood plain.
As the lioness was about to swipe the hind legs of the lechwe, the water got suddenly deeper and the lechwe’s superior ability in water gave it the advantage and he managed to leap out of reach of the lioness that disappeared in a huge splash of water and spray, just behind the lechwe. This was exciting stuff and we had some great photo opportunities, following these cats during the day.