This is the moment the hunter became the hunted when a buffalo decided to stand up to some hungry lions.
All looked lost when two lions began stalking a buffalo calf and eventually caught and severely injured it… until its mother arrived.
The distraught mother came to her baby’s rescue and, although initially outnumbered, charged at one lioness and stabbed her with her horns.
The battle continued, with the uninjured lions attempting several more attacks on the mother.
However, in a dramatic turn of events, a protective macho bull stepped in, scaring the lions away and nearly mauling the injured lioness to death – saving the mother’s life.
Photographer Wim van den Heever witnessed and captured the bitter battle in Okavango Delta in Botswana.
Wim, 43, said: “The bull came and chased the female lions off the mother buffalo, trying to injure them.
“Luckily they escaped, but while he chases them he sees the injured female lion and really finishes her off, by mauling her and pushing her into the mud.
“I’ve never witnessed anything like this and don’t think I’ll ever manage to photograph anything like this again.”
The lion is the classic “king of the jungle”, although as we see in this instance, that is not always the case. The power of a full-grown African Buffalo can be too much for a single lion, which is why lions often hunt as a group.