A trio of lions were forced to defend their hippo meal from a crocodile swimming around them.

Danielle Sheedy was on a tour through Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana, on December 8 when the guide spotted a pride surrounding a carcass in water.

Dramatic footage shows the lions chewing on the hippo’s body before an opportunistic reptile tried to steal a cheap meal from them.

Danielle – who owns a travel company called Safari Creators – filmed as the lions had to pounce at the crocodile’s snout multiple times to protect their hard-earned meal.

Danielle, 31, said: “I have never seen anything like this in my life before, and I live in the southern part of the Kruger National Park.

“I see lions often and am on safari often, but this was definitely a first for me. I was in complete amazement.

“I absolutely love lions and spend a lot of my time observing them and their behaviour, so I can’t actually explain how excited I was to witness something like this.

“It’s fascinating to see how lions adapt to certain areas in Africa. Our guide explained to us, that in Moremi the lions have adapted to all the water, and it’s not uncommon to see them in the water, either crossing areas or hunting.

“To the one side, there were many crocodiles lying on the side of the bank, and then there was a constant flow of them swimming around the hippo carcass and the lions.

“The whole time we were there the fight carried on, which was a good 30 minutes.

“I didn’t see the crocodiles manage to get any of the hippo, the lions were extremely aggressive towards the crocs and defended their meal.

“One of the male lions kept trying to pull it out of the water but failed. Still incredible to see his strength, as he did manage to move it closer to shore.”