You can spend a lifetime in the bush and never see anything quite like this showdown between three predators with very different techniques.

Filmed at an unnamed location somewhere within the Kruger National Park by a chap called Wayne, the only thing that’s missing is footage of the leopard nailing the impala.

Wayne told Latest Sightings that when heading out of camp, they first heard baboons performing their alarm calls, and headed to the riverbed to see what the commotion was about.

Upon arrival, they saw the leopard dragging the impala, with a single wild dog in pursuit.

It wasn’t long before a pack of wild dogs arrived on the scene, hounding the leopard, which was intent on carrying its prey up a tree.

That didn’t go to plan, and the wild dogs looked set to claim victory, until a clan (or cackle) of hyenas entered the fray, causing further panic.

You really have hit the jackpot if you watch this play out next to your game vehicle:

Wayne said that the wild dogs kept on returning to see if they could win their meal back, but the hyenas were unrelenting:

“The hyenas finished off every shred of the impala except the head, within minutes, only stopping to fight with each other – and the largest female then made off with the head to a nearby open field. The leopard then came down the tree and followed the hyenas to see if he could pick up any scraps but ended up with nothing, just watching from a distance.”

If you were scoring this one like a boxing bout, the clear loser would be the leopard.

It lives to fight another day.

Read Wayne’s full account of the sighting here.

[source:latestsightings]