Warning: the following is pretty gruesome.

On our first night in Serengeti Sarah was awoken around 4:40am by animal noises. They were not brief. Alex and I didn’t hear anything. Then at 7am the camp guides woke us to let us know the hot water was ready and we could shower, and oh by the way there was a freshly killed water buck next to our tent and, did we want to go see it? This was not a question I pictured. The answer was yes.

In the trees you can see the vultures, and in the close-up you can see more vultures plus “undertaker birds.” Our guide decided it was killed by a leopard or a lion. The confusing bit was why the buck was left so intact. On the one hand it was very large and thus probably killed by a lion, but on the other hand lions don’t usually leave prey, so it could have been a leopard that realized it was in human territory and left quickly.

We left after breakfast for our safari drive fully expecting it to be gone when we returned at 6pm. It definitely was not gone. Later, after dark, Sarah and Alex returned to our tent (with a guide) and saw a lion eating it. Then further in the evening they saw it dragged into the river by a leopard.

IT’S THE CIRCLE OF LIFE.