The rare encounter was caught on camera by Alberto Scattolin, the owner as well as guide at Matimba Lodge. He described this sighting as follows: “This afternoon was no different than any other late afternoon drives in the Kruger. Usually, when I have no guests, I take a drive-by myself and try my luck to see if I can find some exciting sightings. On this specific day, I tried my luck once again and sure enough, it paid off!”
“I arrived at this waterhole and spotted a crocodile feasting on a carcass in the water. But out of nowhere, a leopard appeared spotted the potential free meal. He immediately started approaching the water where the crocodile was.”
“I stayed and watched as the hungry leopard tried to take the meal from the croc repeatedly. The croc had none of it though and protected the meal by lashing out at the leopard with snapping jaws each time it came close enough to almost become a meal itself. I’ve seen a similar situation before, but never anything as intense as this.”
“I was the only person at this spot at the time, hence, it made this an unbelievable experience, it was like an exclusive performance for a sole audience. The sighting ended when I had to leave since the gates were about to close. This was the most amazing interaction with these two animals I’ve ever seen.”
“I love the Kruger, and I hope to see more people having similar and even better sightings to share. When you’re in the Kruger and you get to a sighting like this, enjoy it while it lasts, because you never know if you will ever see anything like that again.”
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