The following day we were fortunate to see a pride of 21 lion, then two lionesses basking on a termite mound in the rich evening sun. While watching her, our guide Emang heard over the 
radio of a sighting from one of the other Mombo vehicles of lions that had killed a baby giraffe. We made our way to the scene, taking at least 15 minutes to get there. On arrival we watched a lioness with her three 7 month old cubs feeding off a young giraffe while the mother giraffe looked on forlornly. I know you are not meant to be anthropomorphic in the wild, but her behaviour over the next 40 minutes and following morning certainly led us to this way of thinking.
The lions had been eating the calf for nearly 20 minutes when we arrived; we presumed it was dead as a sizable amount had been eaten from its front right leg and rump and there was no movement from the animal. All of a sudden the young giraffe stood up, lion cubs fell in all directions. The lioness crouched, sizing up this seven foot baby, allowing her cubs to come in for the attack, obviously teaching them how to hunt and bring down prey.
According to the other Land Rover that had been there since the beginning of the attack, this was the fourth time the giraffe had stood up; the incredible power of adrenalin. The lioness stood on her hind legs with paws clasped beneath the giraffe’s head. She and her cubs formed a perfect pyramid of feline force; fangs and claws eventually wrestling it to the ground. Looking at the giraffe I noticed there was still an umbilical cord; this can still be present in a young giraffe for up to 8 weeks after birth. Judging by the size of the baby it looked like it was at least 2 months old.
The little lion family then began to feed of the giraffe again. During the next 45 minutes it raised its head, bleating and staring at its nearby mother no less than four times. It was possibly the most traumatic thing I have witnessed in the wild.
The mother giraffe stood looking on all the time that the young giraffe gallantly came to life so many times. The lioness would then try to suffocate it with multiple bites to the nose and neck. 
We were willing it to die each time its long rearing neck and head raised up to a pleading stare at its helpless mother and just as we thought it could never still be alive that long the neck would lurch up again and its baby face would stare and bleat. It had taken over an hour for the giraffe to die, during this time a fair amount of flesh had been eaten from the right rump and front leg, along with a lot of blood on the neck and head. The following morning we went directly to the site, all that was left was a patch of blood on the grass, with the mother still standing there looking at the site where her calf that had spent 14 months growing in her belly had met its end. Such is the savage cycle of life in Africa. Such are the sightings that Mombo can present you within two days, standing up to its bold statement of ‘Land of Plenty.’
This unusual sighting was captured at: www.sunsafaris.com/mombo.html
