After attacking and driving the hippo into deep water, the pair of lions play a waiting game, lying still on nearby rocks for two hours before the hippo ventures out.
Having waited for it to get clear of its bolt-hole, the lions pounce and the plucky juvenile hippo puts up a fight, chasing them away.
Fight to the death: A lion gets onto the hippo’s back and the other attacks from the front at the Sabi Sands Game reserve in South Africa
But one lion gets onto the hippo’s back and the other attacks from the front leaving the hippo charging with them to the nearest bit of a water in a bid to get them off.
Law of the jungle: The two lions start off by stalking the hippo in its pond bolthole
One of the lions ventures into the water in the Sabi Sands Game reserve, but is chased out
‘From the scratches on the hippo I would guess that the lions had been going after the hippo for quite some time before I arrived.
Waiting game: The two lions lie in wait behind a rock as the stand-off continues into daylight
Forced out of his bolthole and onto dry land, the hippo is set upon by a vicious lion
A lion leaps onto the hippo’s back as the other one circles with intent. Blood can been seen on the target’s back
‘It looked around and all seemed clear, so he started walking away. The lions waited until he got about 50m from the pool of water before chasing after him.
Both of the beasts are now in on the action with one on the hippo’s back and the other biting it
The hippo, still under attack, makes a dash back into the water in an attempt to escape
A third lion enters the fray, leaping into the water to attack the hippo
‘It ran into the water and the lions held on but as the water was now shallower than the first pool and the lions were able to stand, they hung on and managed to pull the hippo onto its side.
It’s three versus one now as the lions claws at the injured hippo in the pond. There is now no escape
With blood streaming out of it, the hippo lies stricken underwater as two of the lions sink their teeth into it
Game over: Lions 1, hippo 0 as the poor creature is devoured in the water. It did put up quite a fight though