An incredible scene unfolded when a hungry leopard stumbled upon an entire family of warthogs.
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Caspar Siebel, a student and photographer, filmed this once-in-a-lifetime sighting during a trip in Sabi Sand, part of the Greater Kruger.
“My dad and I were the only guests on the safari vehicle, and we’d only seen birds for most of the morning’s drive. Then suddenly, a leopard with intent came walking along the road,”
“He quickly rushed across the road in full hunt mode, which brought a rush of excitement to all of us. Our guide decided to circle in the direction that the leopard was headed. After tracking him for about half an hour, we finally found him near what seemed to be a warthog’s burrow.”
“This was the perfect setting for an epic wildlife sighting, but no one knew just what we were in for… The leopard snuck around the burrow and created a commotion at an entrance opposite us. He was trying to draw them out to the entrance closest to our side, and that’s exactly what happened! The father warthog was the first to leave and darted out as quickly as he could into the bushes. This is when I pulled my phone out and started filming.”
“The piglets tried following their father but were sadly just too slow, and by the time the first had gotten out, the leopard was already there, and he quickly grabbed it. The second piglet came out too, but after seeing the leopard with its sibling in its mouth, it froze in fear.”
Leopards don’t usually risk losing their kills and would normally take to the trees as soon as they manage to catch something. This time, things were different...
“The leopard dropped his first victim, knowing it was too injured to go anywhere, and quickly grabbed the second piglet, sadly sealing its fate too. The story doesn’t end just there though, incredibly, the mother warthog, who was still in the burrow, chose the worst possible time to try and make an escape from the entrance at the back. The leopard had already immobilized both her babies and as soon as he heard her, he dropped the second piglet and quickly pounced on her too!”
“Everyone in the vehicle was completely silent for a moment; an entire family was gone. The leopard made quick work of one of the little piglets and then stashed the mother and second piglet in a nearby tree.”
“This was a very sad sighting, but it’s something I will never forget, and I feel blessed to have witnessed nature’s chaos play out in real-time.”
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