A South African tour guide recently captured a male lion’s worst day on video. After the lion became trapped on a rock in the middle of the Crocodile River, he fell victim to a herd of hippos, nearly losing his life to the semi-aquatic subjugators.
If you’re ever faced with the option of battling a hippo or literally any other type of animal, the other animal is almost always the correct choice. Hippos cause an estimated 500 human deaths per year. To put that into perspective, sharks kill around 10 people in an average year – 50 times less than the massive mammals.
Hippos are so aggressive and territorial, in fact, that they don’t even fear the formidable lion – especially not when it’s 20 on 1.
As co-owner and guide at South Post at Kruger in South Africa, Steyn Jacobsen has seen some truly wild things. A bloat of hippos charging a lone lion in the middle of a river, however, is among the wildest.
In an interview with Latest Sightings, Jacobsen recounted the insane sighting. While on a recent tour, he took his guests down to Crocodile River for coffee and to enjoy the breathtaking scenery. It was there that he saw the brutal hippo attack.
“Always looking around for something, I saw the hippo’s strange behavior,” Jacobsen explained. “As we watched, the hippos grew increasingly agitated and started to circle a rock, clearly unhappy with it.”
Young Lion Manages to Escape Angry Hippos Scot-Free
Confused by the hippos’ behavior, the guide pulled out his binoculars to get a closer look. At this point, the full scope of the strange scene came into focus. Atop the rock was a male lion, the predator taking a break from a difficult trek through the water.
Though kings of the jungle, lions avoid deep water whenever possible, as they’re not strong swimmers. As a result, the lion was at a severe disadvantage against the approaching hippos.
“All of a sudden, a big hippo went for the lion,” Jacobsen said. “The lion had no choice but to jump off and into the water. In the end, another hippo went for the lion, but luckily, he missed it.”
According to Jacobsen, the male lion is a young nomad, not a dominant male. Rather than ruling over an established territory like older males, young males roam the wild until finding a territory of their own. This one just happened to wander straight into the waiting jaws of an angry hippo.
The tour guide explained that, of all the once-in-a-lifetime sights he’s witnessed, this one was among the rarest. “For anyone lucky enough to witness a rare sighting like this, my advice is to take it all in and savor every moment,” he said. “These moments are fleeting, and you never know when you might witness something truly special in the wild.”