We were at Wilderness Safaris' King's Pool camp in Botswana, with our amazing guide ND tracking two young male lions we had seen in the area the day before. We found them by the Linyanti river between Botswana and Namibia, and watched them drinking water. Then the younger one stepped into the water and they both cautiously looked around, before turning back. We thought they would come back out of the water but then we saw the younger one going back in. Our guide saw a crocodile on the right and we saw the older one look at the croc. Again we thought they would turn back but the younger one kept going in deeper. The older one hesitated and then followed him in. As they swim across the crocodile speeds up and while we all watched with our hearts in our mouths, the younger lion was attacked by the crocodile. The older one then attacks the crocodile and effectively saves his younger brother before going under the water. The younger one started swimming back and we thought the older one was gone, but then we saw him pull himself into the reeds - incredibly they both survived with no injuries! See that video here: The older brother was stuck on the Namibian side of the river for the rest of the day, while the younger one waited for a while, before finding a young lioness and mating with her (video here: ). When the older brother came back later in the day, instead of challenging his younger brother for the lioness as would be expected, he waited nearby. An amazing wilderness experience we were privileged to observe and an incredible older brother! Thanks to Wilderness Safaris and Alluring Africa () for an experience of a lifetime! UPDATE: many of you have asked for the close up / zoom - here are the photos showing the attack close up: This video is being managed exclusively by Newsflare. To use this video for broadcast or in a commercial player go to: or email: newsdesk@ or call: 44 (0) 8432 895 191
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