I thought I’d get to the buffalo carcass at dawn and find the lions there, but they had already ducked. Their tracks went south down the road.
I was sure they’d be headed to Nyamasikana pan to drink.
There was no sign of them at the pan when I got there. I waited for some time having my early morning peanut butter and honey sandwich and tea. They never arrived.
I quickly scooted back to the kill, no lions, and back to the pan. I must have been away no more than 15mins, and when I arrived at the pan the lions had downed another buffalo bull. He was still very much alive as 2 lions fed from his rear end making no attempt to strangle him as he bellowed in pain. (there weren’t even any signs of them having made any attempt to go for his head or throat.)
And so they ate him alive pulling out his intestines. This went on for about 20mins and then it was all over. Thankfully.
The fear of death in his eye was a hard one for me to watch. I had never seen it so real. I thought I was toughened to this sort of stuff, but this really bored deep down into my soul. What a way to go. AND all at the hands of those WE call the King of the Jungle. I sometimes wonder. What makes them so regal?
I was amazed that the lions even took on this bull, as they were already so well fed. He must have had something wrong with him and was an easy target.
There were only the 2 lions feeding on him when I arrived and 2 others lying around. I wonder where the other 4 were.
Back at the carcass from yesterday, the vultures had moved in in force and totally taken over. The lions were obviously staying with their fresh kill, which was now near water too. No doubt they’ll have food for another 3 days or more.
This activity somewhat distracted my search for the dogs, but I did fine tracks near Manyuchi, which is always encouraging. They’re still in the area!
As beautiful as I imagine your day is , I can only imagine how hurting it can be to see the other side of beauty.
I dream of the things you see each day , forgetting how un-sympathetic nature can be in it’s truest form.
Thank you for the video.
Ronan
Could it be that you have been in the bush so long that it has completely inured you to this kind of misery? How else to explain filming this instead of getting someone to put this poor creature out of his obvious anguish. Could not and would not watch the video when I realized what it was about. I know that the carnivores have to kill to survive but I certainly don’t have to watch it and won’t. I know that a few people will enjoy watching this and I imagine that is your intended audience but I think if truth be told the majority of your audience will be filled with revulsion as I am!
Maggiesnan , it is equally important to see the second face of nature.
It is true that no viewer will get pleasure from watching the buffalo in such agony , but to speak for the majority maybe a little unfair.
The capture is an exceptional piece of filming , this time without a selected backround music and carefully chosen words…
One of the most emotional video clips I’ve seen , I understand why some will find it tough viewing.
I wonder why it is, that they prefer to eat their prey alive ? Have they ever been known to show concern for the misfortune of their victim ?
What a powerful video. I still do not understand why they do not kill the animal before feeding on it. I am thinking that it excites them more?
Poor beast, what a way to go. I cannot even imagine what sort of pain it was feeling for 20 minutes.
All need to be careful here and not anthromorphize(sic) too much. Even Kim seems to have a tinge of anger in his voice toward the lions for their merciless methods. NOT filming such events is not the answer though (I speak to you Maggiesnan).
Filming wildlife is to _document_ behavior. It is _not_ to alter said behavior by interferring to make it warm and fuzzy. If you want that, just turn on the Disney Channel and you can happily delude yourself.
Thank you Kim for a true dose of sobering reality.
Bloody hell, I am still in shock. I hate seeing animals die, especially this way. Wow, I feel sick to my stomach when I think of the pain and suffering this poor magnificent animal had to endure till the very last end.
Every day we envy your work and get lost in yet another beautiful African sunset and the adventures of the day that I think we seem to forget the hardships these animals face on a daily basis just to survive … the blood feuds between Africa’s ancient enemies …
I’m sure it’s not always easy to witness these struggles for life. Nature can sometimes be so cruel and sad and yet it’s ’still’ much fairer than mankind.
Thank you Kim for keeping it real! That was indeed very hard to watch. But least we forget, lions don’t have the rationale that humans have, so why should they think about making sure their meal is dead and not suffering. Nature is unkind, we can’t just get to see the sunny side.
I hope yours and all of our hearts never harden to the point that we can view a video such as this one, or the one when Manyari was hurt so badly, and not feel pain and anger.
Yes we dare not anthromorphize (new word see) too much. What is also very important is to realise the well known fact that adrenalin and other neurotransmitters takes right over and the injured animal is hardly aware of what is going on around him. Kim informed all viewers what is coming, it is thus your personal decision to view it or not. Reporting on human nature is as bad as that and reporting on nature is unfortunately not always pretty sun sets and cute giraffe ears. At least it got the blog blowing and glowing!
Reality is always hard to watch, but this buffalo had a free roaming life. Nature has taken it’s cause. In our western world, I am living in the Netherlands, we do not see any relation between the meat we eat and the animal. We have put death far away between the walls of a slaughterhouse and most of the meat we eat is from cattle, which lived their pityfull lives between the walls of a large stable with no space to roam at all.
And, again, this is what i like in the way Kim handles his camera. He informs us the way nature works, as we like it or not.
I know that it is a hard thing to see but this is nature. It is not controlled by the rules of man. This is what happens.
I imagine it happens more often than what we think. We glorify certain animals with nobility because they are higher on the food chain but in reality a lion and a shark are the same when it comes to feeding. They both hunt, kill and feed and have no morals to tell them that they should feel bad that the buffalo is still skirming or in the shark’s worls that a seal is still moving.
Humans want a hero in the wild kingdom. We are placing a false pretense on the natural order of things. If our photographer friend would step into the scent of these lions, he would be their next meal jsut as easily. They have no regrets or consciense. They will not loose sleep over a kill. That is a human reaction.
Wolf
What amazing footage. It was hard to watch yet intriguing. I am amazed at your camera work. It was intense to watch the buffalo slowly close his eye to his death. WOW! Thank you for posting Kim.
As hard as it was for me to film, I felt I had a duty to film this. AND all the documentary work I do.
How will we ever understand our natural world, which I believe we as humans are obliged to, if we aren’t able to, or aren’t allowed to show the reality of it?
Do we want to portray life out here as one big fairy tale where all live in harmony with each other? It’s time we started taking responsibility for being humans, and stopped hiding the real world from the world.
And as reviled as we all feel watching this, I feel I still have a duty in documenting what is happening in wild Africa. And it’s happening all over the world.
I chose not to watch it but I understand the need to film it. It is part of the natural world.. one we are fast losing. There are all kinds of images out there that are very hard to view and often leave us haunted by what we’ve seen. I know that if I am as disturbed by what I see, how was it for the photographer? Often, those images are absolutely necessary, even if unpleasant, for us to know exactly what is happening in our world. I absolutely agree that someone has to have to stomach to photograph and record what happens in our world. But I also know that I can’t watch some of it, as this video of which you all are speaking. They haunt me too much and I can’t get them out of my mind. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be recorded.
Nancy’s response is to be fully respected. It is well written and well thought out. She chose not to watch and if your a person who feels they cannot, then don’t! But please don’t impose your personal feelings on the matter by attempting to censor others of what naturally occurs.
She mentions Kim. He’s been in the wilds of Africa and experienced what I only wish I could. I believe this one upset him somewhat. That is saying alot given what he has seen in the past and what he has filmed and shared with us. Think about it. As a photographer, your going to see, hear, touch, taste and smell a kill up close. It’s not for everybody for sure!
I just think having this type of footage available to everyone, unedited, without the dramatic music, whatever…..it’s so neat to have it just so. It is irrelevant whether one wants it or not. I for one _want_ it. Well, I’m ready to travel to Africa. Where do you wanna hook up for a cold beer Kim?
Kim,
I fully agree with your statement. I could not have said it better, your English is better than mine.
Life is not a fairytale, and when we accept this we more understand our human and natural world,
regards,
Douwe
I once heard something that stuck with me ever since .. and I quote:
“Only man slaughters for trade, leaving in its wake not only death … but suffering” … Dereck Joubert.
What an amazing vedio…. really shows the pain and the hardship animals face in wild of which many people are unknown
thank you
I was deeply touched by this video, but especially by your way of commenting it, the way you seemed to feel the pain of the buffalo.
Thank you for the emotions.
And thank you for all your videos.
Regards,
Francesca
Awesome! I love how they ripped that sucker apart. That’s nature. The way it should be. They only kill to immobilize the meat, so they can eat without fear of injury, but in this case this slab of meat must have been injured or sick to begin with. Survival of the fittest.
Yeah,
let’s kill all those naughty lions..
It is obvious people find it very hard to look at this from the lions point of view.
We people love to judge, forgetting we have such easy lives. These lions do not kill this buffalo because there is no need to do that and because they could get hurt while doing this. Living in the wild is very hard and wild animals just do not take unnecessary risks. Still you can see they are not used eating live prey very much. We have moral standards mainly because we are a social and rather intelligent animal. Don’t blame lions for not having evolved like we did.
And… we people call the lion the king of beasts, not the lion itself.
This is wild nature. Not everything is nice over there!
Great footage, thanks for daring to share it.
Regards, Jeroen Verhoeff
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