Stubborn wildebeest breaks free from hungry crocodile after being dragged under water

For one very lucky wildebeest, the will to live overpowered the jaws of death and it's 'die another day'. Thousands of wildebeest had been crossing the Mara River between Tanzania and Kenya for their seasonal migration when a crocodile thought it had hit the jackpot and grabbed one by the tail. The animal just didn't fancy becoming some other guys lunch and put up an almighty struggle, it kept fighting against what looked like impossible odds and as if the gods honoured its persistence, it got away after the crocodile became distracted by a herd of Zebras.

Amateur photographer and full time mother Corlette Wessels from Johannesburg, who was on holiday in Kenya, was on hand to snap the battle.

She said:

'Every year animals cross over the Mara River into Tanzania or back into the Mara.

'They move from season to season to go to the area where it rained for better grazing. Normally between July and October they cross over to Tanzania side - there are no fences so the animals can roam free. 'There were thousands of animals crossing on that day. The wildebeest wanted to cross but this one in the photos was quite far behind the others. 

'When there are hundreds of animals crossing at once, the crocodiles either stay away or go for the ones which are the slow swimmers. 

'This particular wildebeest has drifted away from the rest as the river current was quite strong. 'I could see the crocodile approaching and once it got closer to the wildebeest it went under the water to get to 'striking' distance. 

'This croc only got the wildebeest by the tail. I was amazed that he had such a strong hold on the wildebeest by just clinging onto his tail. 'The wildebeest was fighting and almost got to the bank of the river but then the crocodile kept pulling it back deeper into the river. 

'The strength of this crocodile was unreal; I could not believe how he pulled this wildebeest like a toy into the river. 'At one point I thought the wildebeest was going to lose his tail - that is how hard the crocodile pulled on him.' 'Some zebras decided to cross and swam right towards the crocodile and wildebeest - the Zebra almost looked like they trampled the crocodiles as they swam. 

 'This caused the crocodiles to let go of their grip on the wildebeest and he bolted for the riverbank. 'The wildebeest was absolutely exhausted. I do not think the zebras disrupted the crocodiles on purpose; it must have been wildebeest's lucky day. 

'I wanted to get good photos but on the other hand I did not want to see the wildebeest drown. 'When I look at my photos, I think the happy ending is one of my favourite things about them. 'I live in Africa and know this is the circle of life and there are no grocery stores for the animals to buy food and it is truly the survival of the fittest.'