Battle of Crocodile Bridge
Greetings from Berg en Dal,
On Tuesday morning the 16th of December 2008 I was off and went for a drive with my friends. We went out of the Park and drove around from Malelane Gate to Crocodile Bridge and entered the Park from that side and went to Lower Sabie for brunch. We saw lots of General Game on our way there and spotted a Lionness about 60 metres into the bush. She watched the vehicles for a while and went deeper into the Bush. As we got closer to Lower Sabie we had a lovely sighting of a Hippo crossing the road in front of us.
After our brunch we went up the H10 towards Tshokwane and found 2 big Mane Lions with a Lionness, they were resting in the drizzling rain. We came back on the S29 and S128 and had nice sightings of Kudus, Giraffes, Elephants etc. On the S28 on our way back to Crocodile Bridge we got to another sighting of Lions, but this time 5 young male Lions stalking some Duggaboys. When we got to the scene we only saw 2 Buffaloes and 2 Lions and 2 other vehicles.
We watched the Lions and Buffaloes carefully with lots of Giraffes, Zebras and Impalas in the background. Suddenly the action started!!!
The rest of the bachelors came running passed the Lions and it was Buffaloes chasing Lions and the Lions chasing them, but eventually they cut the 1 Buffalo off and brought him down right in front of us. The Buffalo sending out the distress call, legs kicking in the air, the 1 Lion trying to sufficate him and 2 of them trying to rip his stomach open, it was just unreal!!! Everything happened so quick and suddenly there was no noise from the Buffalo anymore.
As we looked to our left we saw the Bachelors herd turned around and charged towards the Lions. The 5 young male Lions left everything and ran for their lives. The Buffalo that has been caught, stood up and ran with the rest of the Duggaboys.
Ai the sports started again, the Lions running after the injured Buffalo, then the Buffaloes after the Lions!!!
Eventually the Buffaloes decided to run towards the Zebras and nothing stood still, Giraffes, Zebras and Impalas running in all directions and the Lions…
They were unsuccessful but are just dreaming about that nice Buffalo Steak, the guests, how lucky could we have been…
Before this moment, I thought the time will never come for me to see a kill, but luckily after 4 years working in the Kruger Park, I realised now, never is a long time and saw what I was always waiting for…
Lourens Botha.
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December 18th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Great post Lourens. Did you get photos of the action
lp
December 18th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
What a lovely story, we saw something similar some years ago on the Sweni road – young male lions trying to tackle some old dagga boys – and the lions came second.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:44 am
We are arriving at Krokodilbrug on 4/1/08. Are the gates open after the flood or should we use an alternative root?
January 11th, 2009 at 1:17 am
Hi Lourens
I visited Berg N dal on the 4th Jan 09, on the morning of the 5th Jan I did the bush walk, and I think you where our guide on that trip
(I may have it wrong as you only introduced yourself as Lourens so I am not sure of your surname, but you did mention at the end of our walk that you tend to update the website as much as possible with sightings seen around Berg n Dal, so I am sure it was you, and naturally I have come to the site to check it out)
I just wanted to say that I enjoyed the bush walk throughly as you where extremely knowledable and you joked around as well which kept us all entertained. We saw Elephant and Rhino on the walk, and I particularly enjoyed the bird life and sounds that you pointed out. Your enthusiasim and love of nature definately showed.
I will definately recommed Berg n Dal to friends etc and hope to return one day.
Thank you for a lovely experience
Audrey x
February 4th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Hi Lourens
Loved your lion/buffalo story. I understood that there was a Berg en Dal sightings web page but can’t find it on the web. Could you send me the web address.
Regards
Helen and Earl Fenwick
PS
We were on your sunset drive on 16 January 2009