A group of wild dogs chase an impala right into a pride of lions in this amazing moment, where one dog is captured. You may believe the dog is lost, but it acts dead as it waits for the right opportunity to flee.
Wild dogs, particularly those with puppies, typically hunt twice daily, in the early morning and late afternoon, returning to their den to feed their young. Thus, our daily routine was leaving camp at the crack of morning, going straight to the den, and then attempting to chase after the pack.
The guides had come across a pride of lions that had killed a wildebeest. Two enormous male lions, three or four females, and a few cubs were all in our count. The rest of the pride was spread out in the grass waiting for their time to eat because one of the males had claimed the carcass completely for himself and would not let any other lions near it, not even the cubs.
After a little while, I was getting ready to go when one of the guides suddenly yelled “Impala, impala” and then “Wild dogs, wild dogs”; at that moment, two wild dogs were pursuing a lone impala at full speed while completely unaware of the dangers that lay ahead of them. The adult lions squatted into their attack stances in a matter of seconds. The lions’ sights were fixed completely on the dogs, disproving expectations that they would attempt to kill the impala. And as expected, the dominant dog charged head-on into the pride. He was clearly no match for the lions; fortunately, one of the large males overpowered him, and the second dog was able to slow down and make off with its prey.
All one could hear for about a minute was the noises made by the animals in front of us. They left their human audience in a state of shock because none of us, not even the seasoned tour guides, had ever seen anything even substantially comparable. And even then, it wasn’t over. I observed the dog was still moving even though everyone around me believed it to be dead.
The lions didn’t pay much attention to their enemy, though, and instead of completely eliminating the dog, they dispersed once more. The dog took advantage of their negligence and fled! The majority of us were pleased since, after all, it is only natural to root for the underdog (in this instance, literally). However, my daughter expressed a small amount of sympathy for the lion who had allowed the dog to flee.