If you’re ever trying to kill a little time in the office, and you’re longing for the bush, it’s worth swinging by Kruger Sightings, the first South African YouTube channel to hit a billion views.

Nadav Ossendryver was just 15 when he started the channel, which now boasts around 1,45 million subscribers, and regularly shares incredible footage filmed in the Kruger National Park.

Sometimes you get lucky, and you see an incredible sighting firsthand, but most of the time you have to rely on the videos of others.

This month, on October 7, 54-year-old Alberto Scattolin, the owner and guide of Matimba Lodge, witnessed a leopard trying to nab a crocodile’s meal:

“I arrived at this waterhole and spotted a crocodile feasting on a carcass in the water. But out of nowhere, a leopard appeared spotted the potential free meal. He immediately started approaching the water where the crocodile was.”

“I stayed and watched as the hungry leopard tried to take the meal from the croc repeatedly. The croc had none of it though and protected the meal by lashing out at the leopard with snapping jaws each time it came close enough to almost become a meal itself. I’ve seen a similar situation before, but never anything as intense as this.”

Here’s Alberto’s video:

Next up is a classic ‘never say die’ video from October 10, and filmed by Daniel Hitchings, a 22-year-old game ranger at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve:

…”a huge warthog made a dash for it and in a split second, the leopard jumped on top of the warthog, catching a ride mid-air and tripped the warthog with pure weight and surprise! We sat in total astonishment as the squeals of the warthog traveled through the windy bushveld.”

Enter the hyena, and a remarkable lifeline for the warthog:

Still, the warthog’s days were numbered:

“This was a once in a lifetime sighting! You know it’s an extremely special sighting when you see the reactions of the other rangers too, who have witnessed all types of other animal behaviours. After the injured warthog got away, it ended up sitting in the hole for another two days with the leopard and some hyenas staying close by in case the warthog tries to make a second move. The leopard eventually dug and drag the warthog out of the hole and then lost it to the hungry hyenas.”

Nature knows no sentiment.

The third and final video was uploaded to the Kruger National Park Videos YouTube channel on October 18, with this description:

Largest pride of lions in Kruger National Park performs an unbelievable hunt as they take down a Waterbuck at full speed. But soon the scene escalates into a Lion Vs Crocodile battle as the scavenger tries to get a piece of the action.

You’ll see the crocodile cruising into the action around the 2:20 mark:

That was always going to be an uphill battle for the croc, but in the end, sanity prevailed.

Right, now back to staring out the window and wondering how the hell it’s only Wednesday.

[source:youtube]