There have been many extraordinary, special moments throughout my career as a Londolozi Ranger, and last week I was lucky enough to have yet another.
For a little over a month, we had known that a mother cheetah had been seen on the odd occasion with some young cubs in the southwest of the Sabi Sand Nature Reserve. It is an incredibly vast area where open savanna grassland stretches to the horizon all around you.
Cheetah can cover huge distances and searching for one is oftentimes referred to by rangers as trying to find a needle in a hay stack. Our guests at the time were here for a week-long stay and this afforded us a bit of extra time to spend searching the grasslands very thoroughly.
With there being a lot less water over the dry season, especially so in the grasslands, it’s always a good idea to pass by any of the prominent pans to see what might have come and gone.
It was one of our final morning game drives, and I had already made the call that this was going to be the last of many drives we’d spent searching for the mother cheetah and her cubs. We wasted no time and headed straight down to the southern end of our traversing area, which is where we would begin looking for any tracks or signs. A couple hours went by and we still had no luck.
Tracker Terrence and I were just about out of options, and our ideas were no longer aligning with one another. I was about to turn onto a road that would take us back north away from this area, when Terrence turned around, looked at me and jokingly said “Bhuti (brother), let’s keep going west. All the way. We’ll get them at Mandevu Pan”. We chuckled, knowing that at this stage, we both hadn’t a clue where they were. It sounded like a good place to stop for our morning coffee break so I agreed to continue all the way to the pan.
Just as the pan came into view, Terrence’s left arm shoots into the air pointing to a fallen marula tree a couple hundred metres south of the pan. “Cheetah! Cheetah!”, he said almost leaping out of his seat with excitement.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. We saw four little cubs playing about on the tree beside her as we drove closer! What an incredible moment this was for us all. We found them. The Holy Grail of the Savannah.
Mother and cubs survey their surroundings from the fallen marula tree. Mother Nature rewarded us for our persistence!
Below are some of the pictures that I managed to take of this very special sighting. I’m certainly not known for my mathematic capabilities, but I calculated that it had taken me over 2000 official Londolozi game drives to see small cheetah cubs. They are very rare and incredibly difficult to find across the Sabi Sand region.
It was the mother cheetah we had been searching for.
The cheetah in this area have access to millions of acres of wilderness. With such a high density of lions and leopards in the Sabi Sand, the numbers of cheetah are lower here as they opt to live in areas where there is less competition with other predators.
One of the cubs trots after its mother as she leads them through the grasslands. They are lighting fast, even at this age. Which we estimate to be just over four months.
Every so often, in classic cheetah fashion, the mother will find a slight point of elevation from which to survey her surroundings. She makes sure that there is no sign of any threat to her or her cubs.
They would rest in the shade for brief intervals. She never wants the cubs to tire out in the heat. They need to constantly maintain maximum energy levels, should they need to run from danger. Here they rested and suckled for about 10 minutes.
It was a very special moment for me and my guests as we witnessed them bonding with their mother.
The cubs pause for a moment, following in their mother’s footsteps by constantly assessing their surroundings. They are far more trusting of vehicles than small leopard cubs. This is because there is a much more direct sense of feedback between them and their mother. They will not doubt any decision she makes. If she feels safe, they feel safe.
After we had spent about 45 minutes with them, we let them wander off into the grasslands and out of sight. This was certainly one of my biggest highlights as a Londolozi Ranger.
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What a great sighting. Good to see, that there are cheetahs around still. Hopefully, we’ll be kept updated. Exciting news!!
I’m really happy for you Matt! Aren’t they lovely. They still have their cute grey mantles down their backs..
wow. Great sighting and wonderful pictures!!! I hope they stick around.
Amazing! I’m not surprised that Terrance was able to use his magic powers to find the cheetah and her cubs!!
Just amazing
Wow, great pictures along with your great adventure spotting the cheetahs. Thanks for sharing, Matt.
Oh how lucky you were Matt, and well done Terrence! That’s a great partnership, Terrence finds them then you take the most beautiful photos. They are so gorgeous, right off the top of the cuteness scale.
I really love the picture of the mother sitting on a raised mound with her cubs around her legs. It reminds me of a mother bird in a nest with all her chicks under or around her. Cheetahs are my favourite cat so this has been lovely for me to see this. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful moment in time with us around the world.
Hi Matt, cheetahs are a rarity indeed especially in southern Africa, probably also because, as you said, they need a suitable territory. There was a blog about a monther with three cubs and a young independent male, have you ever seen them again? Yes there are so many predators around, the mum can well beat them in speed but not the cubs sadly. I hope to read more news from you! Those little faces are exquisite!
Wow! So exciting! We’ll be there within the week and now I’m hoping for a sighting too!
WOW! Spectacular! Thanks for sharing your amazing experience and for the great photos!
What beautiful pictures of the cheetahs. Thank you for sharing this.
Matt, how thrilling it must have been to finally find the female cheetah and her adorable cubs! This must be the same mother that Kirst viewed a while ago that was moving her tiny cubs, so it’s great to know they’re doing well. Patience does have it rewards!
Wonderful!!!
Well done Matt!!! They are very special and I am so excited to see the mother and her 4 cubs. It is not often that you see Cheetah in the wild, so this is really an exceptional sighting. So precious.
Great work Matt! Great photos. I still have yet to see a cheetah at Londolozi.
How exciting, Matt! And four cubs – such a rare sighting! And Terrence certainly has good intuition! I know they have a challenging road ahead, but I am cheering for the cubs to make it to adulthood.
Lucky lucky! We spent a morning a couple of weeks ago trying to find them without success except for one track! Good work and great success for you!
What a great sighting, Matt!
We also saw the cheetah mum and her adorable cubs during my stay. They were resting under a bush. It is, of course, even more exciting when the little ones are active. Though seeing cheetah cubs is always a total privilege. They are that cute and belong to such an endangered species. I hope that they will make it to adulthood. Maybe next time I can admire them as young adults.
Oh, and your photos are fantastic!
INCEDIBLE sighting Matt!! Cheetah are my favorite of all the amazing animals that roam Londolozi, quickly followed by those amazing Wild Dogs!! Just a brilliant find, and your images are stunning! Bravo to you and Tracker Terrence!!
How precious! I do hope they stick around (and survive) so we can continue to enjoy their story.
Matt: We saw them earlier this week with Megan and Veatence. Incredible hour plus of wandering and playing. BUT, there were only three cubs? One didn’t make it? Or, a different female?