This doesn't look good: A giant crocodile rears up out of the water to attack the young wildebeest Looking quite literally into the jaws of death, the future appeared bleak for this juvenile wildebeest.
As it crossed a crocodile-infested river with dozens of others in search of food it was picked off by one huge predator.
With its huge jaws wide open the large crocodile jumped out of the water to attack its hapless prey.
But timing is everything - and luckily for the young wildebeest, the reptile miscalculated its jump by a fraction of a second.
Run for it: Astonishingly, the crocodile's leap appears to be a fraction too late
Fingers crossed: It looks as though the wildebeest has made it - with just inches to spareInstead of lunch, it ended up with just a mouthful of water as it slid off the back of the hooved creature.
The wildebeest survived the scrape and managed to wade across to the other side of the Mara River in Kenya.
The stunning sequence of pictures was taken by British holidaymaker Austin Thomas.
The 43-year-old was on a week-long break to Africa when he caught the natural encounter during an afternoon sat on the river bank with his camera.
The amateur photographer said: 'I was watching this large group of zebras and wildebeest that had gathered on one side of the river for some time.
No time to celebrate: The wildebeest has escaped the jaws of death - but with the river still full of crocodiles, stopping is a bad idea
Trouble: Undeterred, a flotilla of the fearsome predators moves into position'It was obvious they wanted to cross but were biding their time. There were hundreds of them and about six or seven crocodiles in the river. Then as soon as one went they all went.
'After 30 seconds or so my attention was drawn to this young wildebeest that was at the back of the group and had become slightly separated.
'Then this crocodile came into view and I just kept my finger on the shutter after that.
'The crocodile came out of the water with its jaws wide open and it looked for all the world the wildebeest was heading straight into its mouth.
'But the wildebeest was going a bit faster that it appeared and the crocodile missed.
'It was all over in two seconds and the wildebeest got across safely.
'I wasn't quite sure what I had captured until I looked at the pictures afterwards.
'I was obviously very pleased with them and it made the wait and the trip worthwhile.'
Mr Thomas is a director of an electronics business and lives with his wife Amanda and children Charlie, 16, and Annabel, 12, in Rainford, near Liverpool.
source: dailymail
Posts
