Sometimes in the battle of predator versus prey, no one wins.

That was the case when a pack of at least nine African wild dogs chased an impala into a lake in South Africa’s Greater Kruger National Park.

Every time the impala attempts to swim to shore, the dogs come charging forward. Terrified, the small antelope is forced to stay in the water.

At one point, the impala swims directly into a pod of hippos who seem to want nothing to do with it. But eventually, one of the hippos appears to come to the rescue and leaps onto the bank to chase off the wild dogs.

Hippos feed mostly on grass, although there have been a few rare reports of them eating carrion. Herbivore or not, they’re highly aggressive.

The dogs keep their distance but they’re definitely not letting the impala out of their sights.

These spotted hounds are great at what’s called persistence hunting. Hunting in packs of up to 20 animals, they usually isolate and corner their prey. They’re extremely patient and will wait until the animal becomes exhausted before pouncing.

It’s not clear if they ever got to this impala, but it eventually died of exhaustion after swimming for so long.