Early one misty morning, something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. At first I thought it might have been the stump of a fallen tree, but as I looked through the binoculars I saw three heads peering through the grass. With great excitement I shouted, “Cheetah!”, but as I did tracker Richard Mthabine turned to look at me with a big smile on his face, which very quickly turned into a look of confusion, as he saw where I was looking and realised we were looking in completely different directions.
He too had seen something in the long grass, but it wasn’t the three cheetah heads I was looking at. It was in fact another cheetah…
Just seeing one cheetah here at Londolozi is lucky, but to see four at the same time was something special, so we were very curious to figure out what the dynamics were.
At first, we decided to keep our distance just to observe their behaviour from afar, as both sets of animals were looking at each other from a somewhat comfortable 80 metres apart. We soon saw that the three cheetah that I had seen was the mother and her two sub-adult offspring, and the other one that Rich had spotted was a male.
One of the young cheetahs glancing back towards where the male was.
My initial thought was that the male would approach the female, but to our surprise he was the first one to back away and headed off in the opposite direction, away from the mother and her cubs. We later on saw that he was quite a young male which could explain his lack of confidence.
We continued to follow the mother and cubs for a short while as they moved through the long grass in the opposite direction of the male. They were moving fairly quickly, as she would likely have wanted to put as much distance between her and the unknown male as possible to ensure that he was no threat to her and her cubs.
The mother cheetah leading her cubs safely through the grass.
After following them for awhile we headed back to where we had seen the male; thankfully ranger Barry Bath radioed to say that he had found him. We got to spend a decent amount of time following him until he eventually settled up in and open area for the rest of the day.
The young male cheetah stops and scans as he moves through he long grass.
It’s not every day you and your tracker are equally excited about what you think is the same animal but in fact are two different sightings all in one.
What a post Tayla! It’s one of the best ever I’ve read! Cheetah… those frail cats are like a fairy tale to me. BIG thank you! You made my day
Thank you Francesca, I am glad it made your day.
What a way to start the day!!! Victoria
Wowzer, is this is the area with the ostriches? Are you going there more?
Hi Ian, we normally see the ostriches in the south western parts of the reserve but this was in the eastern part of the reserve where we dont often get to see cheetah.
Cheetahs’ heads are always on the alert–swiveling.
Tayla, What a lucky find! Heads must’ve been turning for sure! Is the young male a cheetah that you have been seeing regularly at Londolozi?
That is incredible that you and your tracker saw cheetahs at the same time, but in different directions. So good to see the mother and cubs are well, as the young male cheetah. Wonderful sighting, thank you Tayla.
Great sighting, it is good to see cheetahs at Londolozi.
What a beautiful sighting you experienced, capturing those cheetah images in the mist. It seems quite astounding that you and Richard each saw a cheetah whilst looking in different directions. It’s always special to see the unexpected during your drive. Love your photos!!
Last night before I fell asleep the last animal I classified on Snapshot Serengeti was an amazing cheetah 💗.
And first thing this a.m. here they are again in this great blog post. Nice way to start the day. Thanks.
Gosh Tayla, that must surely be your best ever start to a game drive ! Let’s hope they manage to find a corner of Londolozi to call their own and are there for all to enjoy in the future 🙏🏻💗💗
Taylor, cheetah🤗
Love that ethereal shot through the mist! What has happened to the wild dog population? It seems Londolozi is predator-rich these days!
I love seeing cheetahs, I will never forget my first sighting of a cheetah with two cubs, this was on my first trip to Londolozi just as we were entering the reserve.
Cheetahs are very special animals and every sighting is a wonderful moment!
Tayla! Your morning adventure (sighting) must have been exhilarating! Your photo captures are fantastic!
Wow! I love your post Tayla, as cheetah are my favorite of the big cats. A brilliant and fortuitous sighting indeed!!