A pair of lions patiently dug through a den for 10 minutes to hunt baby warthogs hiding underneath.

Daniel Fincham was leading a tour through Savanna Private Game Reserve, South Africa, on December 1 when he came across a male pawing at the ground underneath a mound.

Amazing footage showed the lion then roll on to his back as he clawed at the opening of a den before climbing on top of the mound and waiting for them to leave.

Just minutes later, the predators sprinted off after their prey and caught them before they had barely managed to leave the hole.

Daniel said: “It was incredible to see their speed and power to catch the warthogs as they sprinted out of the safety of their burrow.

“It was a pretty rare sighting watching these big male lions target a family of warthogs.

“It is more common to see lionesses and leopards hunting warthogs in this style. But lions are very opportunistic and would not pass up a free meal.

“One of the two males was digging away at the hole for about 10 mins. He slowly started to give up as he couldn’t reach deep enough into the hole.

“We could hear the warthogs while he was trying to get into the small spaces deep in the termite mound.

“After a while he climbed on top of the mound and waiting for about two minutes. I think the warthogs thought they had given up and decided to try make a break for it.

“It took about 20 minutes before the warthogs ran out. The lions caught one big adult female and two piglets that were about two months old.”