Nduna pride hatrick: Video at Wildcast

Unbelievably they were at it again last night.

The Nduna pride rested up till after midnight before heading south to Lojaan dam for refreshments and rested up on the shores.
There was fresh evidence of a buffalo herd having moved through the area but being well fed I thought it was unlikely the lions would show any interest.
Obviously I under-estimated Manyari’s hunger for buffalo. She was soon on their trail for half a kilometre before resting up.
Shortly afterwards we heard the buffalo not too far off. It sounded like they were under attack by lions and one was caught. The Nduna pride didn’t budge but Manyari did start calling softly. There was no response.

Not able to contain herself Manyari led the pride into combat. The got the herd to panic and stampede. In the mass chaos one of the young male lions plucked a calf from the herd. He very quickly had his strangehold in place muffling any sound from the calf. This meant the herd was unawares of the calf’s fate.
So successful was this lion in muffling the calf’s death cries that the rest of the pride were slow in getting to the kill as they hadn’t heard anything.

Seemingly with little desire to feed the lions settled in slowly to their meal.
For this calf death came relatively quickly, about 5 minutes, and it was lucky not be eaten alive over that period.
Then out of nowhere Nduna arrived and moved straight in to the kill. The pride made way for their king. He too was well fed.
Even so it didn’t take long for the lions to be squabbling over the carcass. The noise brought the buffalo herd back. But they never chased the lions off. They approached to within about 30m and stood there waiting the night out.
Only at dawn did the buffalo move off. By now Nduna had laid claim to the remains of the carcass while the rest of the pride could only lie around and wait for their king to finish.