During the nearly three minute struggle, which was documented on camera by safari tourists in Zᴀᴍʙɪᴀ’s South Luangwa National Park, the feisty herbivore was encircled by predators ᴄʟᴏsᴇ to a watering hole. The lions alternately jumped on their backs and sunk their teeth into the body of the tusked creature that had broken away from its herd.
Journalist Jesse Nash in New York saw the occurrence, said he wanted to lend a hand but understood that it would be “against the laws of nature.” As observers, they had been on safari and had observed a life cycle that was occasionally really brutal.
In the video, Nash and bystanders including British naturalist Steve Baker, Aᴜsᴛʀᴀʟɪᴀn travel writer Nina Karnikowski, and Long Island University art professor Dan Christoffel can be heard urging the elephant to “Go on ғɪɢʜᴛ back!”
The nimble elephant dived into the water in an effort to escape its pursuers. The wet didn’t appear to bother the lions much, though, as many of them bound into the shallow depths. After a long struggle, the elephant triumphed and managed to leave unharmed. It could be seen trumpeting, flapping its ears in victory, and splashing through the water.
The herd of lions fled the area and went in search of a buffalo to eat. The next day, the carcass had been stripped to the bone. The following day, the elephant was reunited with the 60-member elephant herd.
The safari guide in Zᴀᴍʙɪᴀ’s South Luangwa, said of the incident that he had been a safari guide there for many years and he had never seen anything like that before.
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