Spot something? Leopard fails to see stalking lioness just feet away as it wanders to a waterhole… but flees in the nick of time
- The clip, captured in Etosha National Park in Namibia, shows stalking lioness
- A leopard wanders up to the water hole unaware of the lioness ready to pounce
- It spots the big cat at the last second and manages to make a quick escape
This is the moment a leopard fails to see a lioness stalking it before making a lucky escape as it flees at the last moment.
The clip, captured in Etosha National Park in Namibia, shows the leopard wandering up to a waterhole before stopping and surveying the land.
A lioness can be seen carefully creeping up its prey, lowering itself close to the ground as it blends into the dirt.
The leopard glances around but is unaware of the huge big cat just feet away from it – which appears ready to pounce.
The clip, captured in Etosha National Park in Namibia, shows the leopard wandering up to a waterhole before stopping and surveying the land
But suddenly the leopard spots the lioness and it backs away before racing at speed along the plain, outrunning the predator.
Valentin Lavis, 24, a safari guide from France, was leading an 18-day tour at Etosha National Park when he captured the rare sighting.
He described it as one of the ‘best sightings of his life’ and could barely contain his emotion as he tried to film.
He told Latest Sightings: ‘We had some great sightings while on safari, but this afternoon was definitely one of the best in my life.
A lioness can be seen carefully creeping up its prey, lowering itself close to the ground as it blends into the dirt
The leopard spots the lioness and it backs away before racing at speed along the plain, outrunning the predator
‘A beautiful lioness was sitting in the open not too far from the water. I soon spotted another animal drinking at the waterhole but it looked way smaller than the lioness… a leopard’
‘It took mere seconds when the lioness started stalking the young female leopard who wasn’t even aware of the lioness’s presence at all!
We all tensed up and waited, preparing ourselves for the dramatic but truly wild moment that had to follow, and realized that we are the only few people on earth who will experience this right as it happened.’
Mr Lavis said they followed the track of the leopard and found it ‘completely terrified’ in a thorny bush before it finally came down.
Mr Lavis said they followed the track of the leopard and found it ‘completely terrified’ in a thorny bush before it finally came down