In what was described as a “most phenomenal encounter,” amused tourists witnessed a playful lion mustering the courage to swat the tail of a massive white rhino.
The accompanying footage, captured last week at Mongena Private Game Lodge in South Africa, shows young lions of the Nkawu pride circling two rhinos grazing in a meadow.
“The youngsters were so intrigued by these enormous animals that the one ended up fly-swatting the tail of one of the rhinos,” the lodge stated on Facebook.
One viewer observed: “I love how he stretches the hand and only touches the rhino, then runs.”
To which the lodge responded, “Possibly dared by the others?”
In the footage, the lions are, indeed, wary in the company of such powerful and unpredictable beasts. But at the 30-second mark one lion inches close enough to tap a rhino’s tail with its paw.
Both rhinos turned to face the startled lions, and that signaled the end of the game.
The Mongena Private Game Lodge bills itself as a Big 5 lodge, in reference to iconic animals known to roam within its boundaries: lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants, and buffalo.
–Image courtesy of Mongena Private Game Reserve