While witnessing a lovely impala lamb, these safari tourists were taken aback by what happened next.
Mike Sutherland, the 34-year-old proprietor of Escape Safari Co, snapped this surprise sighting while on a private game drive in Mombo Camp, Botswana’s Okavango Delta.
“We were on a morning game drive during the time of year when many animals like warthogs, impala, and wildebeest had babies,” Mike told LatestSightings.com. We noticed a lot of baby impalas as we drove about, some of which were days old and others who were just hours old. “The bush had come to life!”
“On the edge of the dry floodplain, there was a large herd of impala and a hyena wandering in the distance.” A python slithered down from a large, fruitful Bushwillow tree and hid in the leaf litter. One unlucky baby lamb stood square on top of the snake, and it was grabbed in a flash. We turned quickly in the direction of the lamb’s bleating, a distress signal, to see what had happened, and the hyena did the same.”
“The python wrapped its teeth around the impala lamb’s leg and began constricting it quickly. It encircled the little animal with its muscular body, squeezing the life out of it. This exchange drew the hyena’s attention, and he dashed in to take advantage of the situation. It tried unsuccessfully to grab the impala from the python at first, and then a cat-and-mouse game ensued.”
