A Chaser, A Prey and An Opportunist..
I am personally excited to start this "Story Behind the Shot" series, with this one.
There is an exciting story behind this capture..
It was a hazy afternoon while we were on safari by the beautiful savannah of Masai Mara, spotted two young lions sitting casually by the plains and a herd of wildebeest behind casually grazing by the fresh greens.
While we expected some action to happen between the lions and the wildebeest, a Hyena from very far ran towards the herd. My naturalist told that hyenas will be more active after rains.
The hyena ran straight across the herd and made smart split, gone round, did repeated splitting and ended up chasing one at last, the wildebeest made a sprint and made enough lead over the hunter, but being open land it couldn't hide or move off from hyena's view...
The chase continued for couple of kilo-meters, while we followed from far off distance. The wildebeest reached the banks for the mara river and took a decision to cross the river...
The chaser came close to it but not enough, the wildebeest started crossing the river, thats when the TWIST happened !
A huge Croc came from nowhere straight from the bottom and locked the wildebeest's head with its powerful jaws, took it down in single shot.
Between the powerful jaws, the Prey had no choice !
Within minutes, the croc took control of the whole scene. meantime, one more croc joined the party. The wildebeest has no other option other than giving up...
When your friend joins the party !
The hyena who chased down so long watched the whole thing happening. Gone around the river and tried to frighten off the crocs but in vain.
A disappointing walk after a long chase...
Can you see the blood off the surface..
The crocs casually dragged off the prey. When the blood comes off to the surface the hyena decided to leave the scene. The drizzle started again.
The Hyena walk by the banks watching his prey taken by others..
This whole thing happened between two consecutive drizzles, in less than 30mins. We anticipated the powerful Lions to do the job but it was the long-range runner Hyena who started.. at last it was the opportunist Crocodile who grabbed the prey.
The final Drag off, and the drizzle starts..
Apart from witnessing this amazing nature's event, I personally learnt a lot from this experience. Hope you also have some takeaways of your own, hence keeping my learnings without mentioning here.
Please do share your comments and views, which will fuel me further to write more. I am currently writing a blog on travel to Masai Mara.