My business partner, Buzz, and I are widely known as the filmmakers of the Battle at Kruger, a battle over a baby calf between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and a crocodile. We shot the scene in September 2004 at a watering hole adjacent to Transport Dam in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
My wife Donna and I met Buzz and his wife Cheryl a few days earlier. We were all staying at Pretoriuskop Camp in Mpumalanga and were all assigned Frank Watts as our safari guide. Frank would pick us up at around 6am before the sunrise and drive us throughout the park for hours. We would stop for lunch, take a few hours break, and then take another afternoon game drive. To avoid being fined, Frank would have to drop us off at and depart our camp by 6pm. This was our safari routine for a few days.
Most people don’t really see much action. Like them, we were satisfied finding animals grazing or just moving around in their natural habitats. I was equally enthralled by the savannah’s horticultural landscape. I shot many rolls of film (this was a couple of years before I transitioned to digital) while Buzz frequently used his video camera, which Cheryl had been given as a corporate gift from her employer.
We shared Frank as a guide for a few days and would frequently go to Transport Dam to see what wildlife would congregate. There seemed to be a crocodile or two living in the watering hole. Otherwise, other animals like impala and elephants would come by for a drink. No animal appeared to be in danger from one another and we were quite content watching the peace.
On Donna’s and my last day of safari, we all agreed to return to the watering hole to spend most of the afternoon and eventually watch the sunset. When we arrived, we parked in an area between the watering hole and a herd of buffalo. On the watering hole’s right shore was a ridge, where a few lions basked in the sun. We watched them nap, roll over, stretch, and look otherwise non-threatening.
At one point, the elder female lion started walking down the ridge and along the shore towards us. As we learned from Frank earlier in the week, we had very little to fear. If we stayed seated, the animals would only perceive our Land Rover as one large rock. We would only draw unwanted attention if we stood up or hung out the window. Under no circumstances were we allowed to leave the vehicle, even if we did not see any animals around.
The female lion walked right up to and around our vehicle, eventually stopping in the grass in front of us for a rest. She did not seem to mind the buffaloes grazing 20 yards behind us.
Some of the buffaloes started slowly walking away from us towards the left bank. Instead of continuing into the distance, they started to circle the shore. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what would happen if the buffaloes continued closer towards the lions. The buffaloes moved quite slowly. I noticed that our time was getting short, thinking that we may soon have to return to the camp for the 6pm curfew. If we were going to see any action, I hoped it would happen soon. It was our last hour of safari and I did not want it to end.
At one point, most of the herd slowed down even more. A small handful of buffaloes continued. Two adults and a baby buffalo led the walk, which got closer to the ridge where the lions rested.
The lions noticed. Three of them turned around and faced the oncoming buffaloes. They lied down and stretched to hide in what little tall golden grass surrounded them. Something was going to happen.
The three buffaloes were getting closer, oblivious to the lions’ presence. They were upwind so they could not smell the lions. With their poor eyesight, they could not see the lions. But then the largest buffalo stopped. He looked up, noticed the great cats, and quickly turned around to run away. The cats pounced. The three on the ridge were joined by another that was hiding on the other side. They were soon overtaken by the female lion that started her attack from near our vehicle.
As the chase curved around the watering hole’s edge, the lioness pounced on her easiest target, the baby buffalo too small and too slow to get away. They both became airborne and rolled into the water with a mighty splash. My jaw hit the ground. I was intent on keeping quiet so as not to disturb the action. Buzz, Cheryl, and a British woman in our vehicle kept exclaiming. I was just worried about running out of film as I kept shooting what would eventually unfold.
The other lions jumped into the water. One clamped its jaws down on the baby buffalo’s snout, trying to suffocate it. Others chewed and tugged, trying to bring the bovine out of the water.
A small splash occurred a few feet away. Moments later, a crocodile revealed itself and snapped at one of the lion’s feet. It then came up again, turned its head, and took a sideways bite out of the buffalo’s hind leg, trying to drag it into the water. An epic tug-of-war ensued between the lions pulling the buffalo uphill onto the shore and the opportunistic crocodile trying to bring it into the watery depths.
Ultimately, the lions won. Once the crocodile was dragged onto the shore, he realized that he was exposed to danger, so he quickly released the buffalo and disappeared into the water.
At that point, we felt certain that the baby buffalo was near its end. After being stretched in half and bitten by some of nature’s fiercest animals, we were surprised to see that it was still alive. A modicum of hope began to rise in us when we saw a black mob of beasts coming from the left corners of our eyes. A cavalry of buffalo had returned to save the baby!
Snorting and huffing, the herd surrounded the lions, which soon became trapped with the watering hole at their backs. They buffalos edged closer as the lions stubbornly held onto their prey. All animals showed some level of fear and courage at the same time. Seated in my vehicle, looking through the lens of my camera, my own adrenaline started to pump.
After a few seconds, a lion was easily chased off by a single large buffalo. Then, out of nowhere, what appeared to be that same buffalo circled around the side and attacked. With a large horn, he scooped a lion up and threw it into the air. When the lion landed, it immediately jettisoned out of there along the bank. It was chased by a handful of buffaloes until it was safely out of the way. Another lion scurried in the other direction.
Gaining more courage, the circle of buffaloes began to close in on the three remaining lions. A large buffalo then stepped forward to be nose-to-nose with the cats. The baby buffalo then miraculously rose off its feet, despite a lion grasping at its hindquarters. Whether by accident or design, the large and baby buffaloes engaged in a small head butt. The baby bounced back a bit and then freely walked back into the herd, disappearing from our sight.
The lions snarled, upset that they lost their meal and fearful since they were still surrounded, and were then chased away one by one.
This event was certainly by far the most amazing thing I have ever seen. It happened on our last hour of safari. The action only took 8 minute and 24 seconds to unfold.