Those on a nature tour in South Africa could see the attack coming: a leopard was crouched, barely noticeable, on the left side of the road, impalas on the right. Add a GoPro camera into the mix and you have footage of the attack that a spectator said was “over in a flash.”

Grind TV reports Martha Van Rensburg, her husband, Marius van Tonder, and Ian Weatherburn were on the MalaMala Game Reserve when they saw the action unfold.

“It happened so fast but I was lucky enough to get this video and a still photo of the leopard and impala in the air,” Van Rensburg said, according to Grind TV.

South African Safari Tour Group Witnesses Leopards Attack on Impala

Look carefully and you'll see a leopard in the brush on the left side of the road. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

Weatherburn said that the skittish impalas had not noticed the leopard spying on them but, once spooked by something that he speculates was a gust of wind, one of their own met its end:

“But of course the leopard was giving 100 percent attention when the moment came, and the impalas ran straight into him,” Weatherburn said, [noting the leopard dozed off for a moment while watching his prey]. “It was over in a flash.”

South African Safari Tour Group Witnesses Leopards Attack on Impala

Something caused the impalas to begin running across the road. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

South African Safari Tour Group Witnesses Leopards Attack on Impala

The leopard is still waiting to pounce as the impalas run toward it. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

South African Safari Tour Group Witnesses Leopards Attack on Impala

Here the leopard's attack brings both parties airborne as the impala was caught running. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

The Grind TV states that such carnal nature videos are rarely captured on tours such as this because it happens so fast. The GoPro camera recording the action was attached to the vehicle.

Watch the footage uploaded to YouTube by Van Rensburg, which has gone viral with nearly 900,000 hits since its posting earlier this week (Warning: footage might be considered graphic):

Tracking the spread of the video on her Facebook page, Van Rensburg writes it had more than 300,000 views within 48 hours of posting. She says in the video description:

We nearly missed this leopard on our early morning game drive. We were watching her for about half an hour when something spooked the herd of Impala on the opposite side of the road. The Impala ran straight into the leopard.

A photographer herself, Van Rensburg writes on her website that she is exploring exotic locations to “[capture] the spellbinding moments frozen in time in spectacular images.”

Check out more of Van Rensburg’s photos on her Facebook profile here.