Botswana Savuti Lions kill an elephant in the night, they feed on it during sunrise at Harvey's pan.

[JPS]

On other holidays in Savuti we previously searched two times for the well-known elephant-hunting lion pride, twice without success, but this time we finally spotted them.

The first day we found the large marsh pride at Rhino vlei, 19 lions, of which one was a fully grown male lion. We enjoyed this pride all day long, which was sleeping most of the day. Later that evening, we found 4 large male lions with a lioness at the water hole of Harvey's pan. We followed these lions for two days but they were mostly sleeping with only some interaction between the two older males, one of them was also very interested in mating with the lioness and the dominant male was not willing to share that part of his life.

 

Natalie and I hoped they would go hunting, as they hadn't eaten for some time. The last night in Savuti was enjoyable as always, however, this time with a wake-up call around 4 AM, we heard elephants screaming enormously and it was coming from the direction of Harvey's pan.  At first daylight, it was clear which direction we would go….

 

After some driving we arrived at Harvey’s pan, the first eyes that sparkled from my flashlight were those of the lions, they had killed a young elephant and were eating it with passion. The first hours of the morning we were alone and able to take beautiful pictures and videos of the sunrise together with the lions, and this without the sounds of other tourists.

We enjoyed this sighting, even though elephants are one of our favorite animals, this is part of nature, so these lions keep nature in balance.

 

I hope you enjoy the video as we did this.

 

 

 

 

[Toxic]

Wow @JPS- what an incredible sighting and the sounds and sights of your video are really powerful. As you say, is a part of a nature so although tough to watch as an elephant lover, it's the circle of life. Thank you for sharing!

[JPS]

2 hours ago, Toxic said:

Wow @JPS- what an incredible sighting and the sounds and sights of your video are really powerful. As you say, is a part of a nature so although tough to watch as an elephant lover, it's the circle of life. Thank you for sharing!

 

Thanks for your feedback....and enjoy 2022!!

[Atravelynn]

Looks like a young elephant.  Great video and stills.

[ElenaH]

Lovely!! I enjoyed a lot a video and pictures. Apart from video itself I love the natural audio (I mena here - not music). I could hear the birds very well! It is like being in Africa! Just amazing!

[JPS]

On 1/5/2022 at 3:11 PM, ElenaH said:

Lovely!! I enjoyed a lot a video and pictures. Apart from video itself I love the natural audio (I mena here - not music). I could hear the birds very well! It is like being in Africa! Just amazing!

Thanks, Elena, indeed a lesson's learned for us is to not or at least minimize the adding of music.

This movie I published about a Hyena tragedy is doing well on you tube, have you seen it?

 

[ElenaH]

@JPSthe video is excellent, I watched it twice... Is it kind of infantilism? Do they see a puppy as a concurrence and eliminate it because they are too many? Or perhaps it was a female puppy of a dominant hyena and the other who wanted to be a dominant killed it? I read something like that and saw in other documentation films. Somehow I am sorry for those pups. But it also means that your video is good, it let one think about that sighting and remember it.

Well done!

[JPS]

On 1/14/2022 at 9:42 PM, ElenaH said:

@JPSthe video is excellent, I watched it twice... Is it kind of infantilism? Do they see a puppy as a concurrence and eliminate it because they are too many? Or perhaps it was a female puppy of a dominant hyena and the other who wanted to be a dominant killed it? I read something like that and saw in other documentation films. Somehow I am sorry for those pups. But it also means that your video is good, it let one think about that sighting and remember it.

Well done!

Hi Elana,

The Hyena cub that was killed was most likely the offspring of a low ranking female in the clan, if a low ranking member steps out of line, they will get a beating and so will her cubs, the mother tried to help but with her being low ranking, resulting that the whole clan attacked her.

It was truly special for us to whitness this real natural behaviaor, and this followed up a few days later by the male lion killing the baby mad it even more spectacular.