OK, this is UNIQUE stuff!
A couple of days ago Jay-Dee was out with our guests, and he found the rhinos grazing near an area we call the “Annaboom Camp clearing”. The guests had a fantastic up-close sighting. Now, this in itself is already exciting enough! Rhinos are now one of the rarest animals in Africa (sadly enough), and one of the key reasons to come to South Africa is to see rhinos. 90% of all of Africa’s rhinos live in South Africa, and 90% of those live in the Kruger Park area (which is where we are located), so naturally our guests were overjoyed to witness them so up-close in their natural habitat. See below the photo that Jay-Dee took.
But this was just the beginning!
A few minutes later, Jay-Dee found the lions resting in the riverbed, near the rhino sighting location. It is rare to have two magnificent sightings in such quick succession, so our guests absolutely loved it. But the best was only to come!
Jay-Dee went back to see the rhinos, as our guests wanted to see them again. But the lions followed the game driver (this is becoming a new habit maybe), and stopped 4-6 m away from the rhinos. A rhino-lion stand-off right in front of Jay-Dee and all our guests! Now that’s a first, I have never seen this myself. For a safari enthusiast, it doesn’t get any more exciting than this, and it makes for the most unique photos one can imagine. Jay-Dee must have been very excited, so the photo is a little shaky, but it is proof of what happened. Enjoy! The lions have a very healthy respect of rhinos, as they are quasi impossible animals for them to take down, especially when they are in a group, and they can easily kill or injure a lion with their massive horns. Most injured lions will starve to death, so they are very weary of attacking animals that can cause serious injuries, such as giraffes and rhinos. Even a zebra, with a lucky and accurate back leg strike, can kill a lion on the spot, so they are careful when taking down these larger animals. With rhinos, it is not even worth trying, and the same is true for elephants.
Jay-Dee also spotted a leopard later that day (that story follows tomorrow), so overall, what can I say: yet another spectacular day out on safari at the Vuyani Safari Lodge. Many thanks to Jay-Dee for sharing these photos with us.
