An amateur photographer in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park recently captured the extraordinary confrontation between an old male lion and a female buffalo – and it was one of those terrifying battles. . . . . and the scariest wild animal we have ever seen.
What greeted him was an image of a bloody male lion with talons hooked into the muzzle of a buffalo. “What happened next can only be described as an epic battle between two gladiators fighting to the death. The battle plays out the same way you see two heavyweights fighting for the world title. After three minutes of the round, both giants will stand and watch Armstrong-Ford recount.
The big cat is a familiar cat. The dominant male lion of a proud resident, this lion has been looking worse in recent weeks, losing weight and possibly suffering from a skin disease. He had separated himself from the rest of his pride a few weeks earlier.
In this weakened state, the buffalo proved to be an invincible opponent. “After each round you can see both fighters getting weaker and weaker and by the seventh round, both are over. That’s when a whole herd of cows comes to the rescue and one cow like the referee comes to the rescue and ends the match. Let’s fight,” Armstrong-Ford wrote.
Wounded and exhausted from the defeat, the lion dragged himself under a nearby bush to recover. Initially, it looked like he would survive the intense encounter as he was found on another (successful) hunt the next morning. But sadly, this did not happen. He was found dead not long after, most likely from the buffalo’s internal wounds.
The incredible encounter was captured on film by Shenton Safaris.
