World's worst 4x4 ?

[BladeScout]

Ahhh, nothing quite like Hippo brain.
Haggis doesnt even come close.

[Martyn]

You know, I'd of thaought a hippo would have been a match for a lion?

[Chui]

You know, I'd of thaought a hippo would have been a match for a lion?

- there'd probably been around 4 to 5 grown lions taking that down, likely a fairly long struggle, esp judging by the claw marks

[Martyn]

Still a hell of a risk. Huge powerful animal, tough thick hide, enormous gape and ten inch teeth...



One bite and the Lion would be off to be a rainbow for baby jesus.

[Chui]

True, Martyn - very true. And lions have been fatally wounded being greedy.

However, it could've been an old weary hippo.........even a sick one.

Lions are the bullies in the bush, but they are also not stupid........they will pick up a weakness in a beast, and nab it when they get the chance, opportunists.

Not much intelligence in them, but instinct above and beyond what we mortal humans will ever truly know!

[Martyn]

It amazes me that they will view such powerful and dangerous animals as hippos and widerbeast as prey, but are frightened of humans. I cant decide if they are stupid or smart?

I watched a prog just last week where 3 Massai warriors just walked onto a pride feeding on a fresh kill. The lions scattered, the fellas cut a leg off the dead animal and just walked off with it. They had big brass ones no doubt, but I cant figure the Lions. The pride could have easily killed the men.

[Martyn]

Here we go, found it on youtube. amazing sequence....

[WhiteRockForge]

Huge powerful animal, tough thick hide, enormous gape and ten inch teeth...

That'll be my missis then

[BladeScout]

Okay, its offical; those blokes have ice water in their veins.....

[Chui]

It amazes me that they will view such powerful and dangerous animals as hippos and widerbeast as prey, but are frightened of humans. I cant decide if they are stupid or smart?

I watched a prog just last week where 3 Massai warriors just walked onto a pride feeding on a fresh kill. The lions scattered, the fellas cut a leg off the dead animal and just walked off with it. They had big brass ones no doubt, but I cant figure the Lions. The pride could have easily killed the men.

That's humans being opportunistic.....

Strange though, given these look Masai, they usually have assagais, not bows n arrows..........just wonder how much it is staged..?

Inc the cameramen, there were likely 5 people, say.

The lions would shy away to start with, they'd've come back.......it would only take one to start, the others would follow.

I've known a lioness try to face-down a group on a walking safari - she tried twice and was roared and shouted at by the guide up front, and she skulked off into the bushes. The third time she did not stop, and kept coming.

It was a sad and traumatic experience for the whole group........

[maz]

Got my first Defender about 4 weeks ago. Needed some TLC but has been spot on every day as my commute car. Every night I go home and do a little job on it here and there. Done all the wheel bearings last week, gonna tackle the swivels this week. Got a few bushes to do. It's all about maintenance and servicing as with most things in life. Plus I think I've yet to break £250 on all the parts I've replaced so far. Nissan tried to charge me £350 for a bush once.

It doesn't help that a lot of people replace broken LR parts with Britpart which apparently are of poorer quality than OEM but I'm well chuffed with mine. Got Drumclog and Glentarkie at the weekend so will see if I'm still chuffed with it on the Monday

[africanex]

Like humans there are no hard and fast rules with lions. Books will say they do this and that, reality will often be different. The male lion in the picture was actually very pissed off at us (no guests on the vehicle). Classic pissed off behaviour with the tail twitching like hell and a low growl. This is a warning - which we listened to and backed the vehicle off. Further north there is a pride who are very, very different. Last season one of the females gave birth under a guest tent and the lioness and her sibling took to hanging around the raised platforms of the camp. We all at times walked into her - very, very close. Even with cubs at no time were people threatened. This pride are so relaxed that if you park a vehicle close to them often they will wander over and flop down in the shade of the vehicle. The former dominant male of this pride had even been known to place his head in the footwell of a vehicle with no doors - heart stopping for the guide. He once also scent marked the bull bar (and guide!) of a vehicle. This pride are also habituated to local spear -fishermen who have rights of access to the area at certain times of the year - I have witnessed fishermen walk within 20-30m of lionesses who simply raise their heads, look and then go back to lazing around. It was very interesting last year to basically live with a pride of nursing lions to say the least. Other prides we would have had to close the camp - it just would have been totally different!

With regard to the Hippo Chui is spot on - It normally takes a good few lions to bring down something like a hippo... I have some frankly shocking pictures of a lioness being dissembowelled by a Buffalo which I will not post - but believe me it is something. For large animals like Hippos and Buffalo often this is where the weight and strength of male lions comes into play.

In the case of this hippo we theorise that it was not actually the 3 males that brought him down, but probably the lions taking advantage of the hippo after a fight with another male hippo - generally there was an absence of trampled grass and the mayhem that such a kill would entail.

[Martyn]

That's humans being opportunistic.....

Strange though, given these look Masai, they usually have assagais, not bows n arrows..........just wonder how much it is staged..?

Inc the cameramen, there were likely 5 people, say.

The lions would shy away to start with, they'd've come back.......it would only take one to start, the others would follow.

I've known a lioness try to face-down a group on a walking safari - she tried twice and was roared and shouted at by the guide up front, and she skulked off into the bushes. The third time she did not stop, and kept coming.

It was a sad and traumatic experience for the whole group........

You've a good eye mate. They weren't Massai, I just couldn't remember the name of the people, they weren't even from Kenya, they were a tribe from Tanzania. The film crew had heard of this tribe walking onto kills to steal meat and were sceptical. They found the people and they claimed to have done it often, but it had never been filmed before. They agreed to demonstrate, so they spent some time looking for the right kill - it needed to be an early morning kill as it was too dangerous to do it at night. They found what they wanted and the people obliged with a demonstration.

[Martyn]

Got my first Defender about 4 weeks ago. Needed some TLC but has been spot on every day as my commute car. Every night I go home and do a little job on it here and there. Done all the wheel bearings last week, gonna tackle the swivels this week. Got a few bushes to do. It's all about maintenance and servicing as with most things in life. Plus I think I've yet to break £250 on all the parts I've replaced so far. Nissan tried to charge me £350 for a bush once.

It doesn't help that a lot of people replace broken LR parts with Britpart which apparently are of poorer quality than OEM but I'm well chuffed with mine. Got Drumclog and Glentarkie at the weekend so will see if I'm still chuffed with it on the Monday

Welcome to the club b maz.

[HPFlashman]

I once bought a LWB Series 3 with Perkins engine that came with an unexpected bonus of about 50 live 12g cartridges in that toolbox thingy they have in the rear load bay.

Fortunately I was a Registered Firearms Dealer, so I just wrote them up in my ammo book and kept them

I`ve owned about 8 or 9 of the beasts over the years, all second hand and none of them ammofree, ranging from a couple of 12 gauge to three Garand clips...

I just appreciate the bonus.