When the Makhotini coalition of two young male cheetahs were found late the previous afternoon, they were on the far southern end of the reserve, and we were on the opposite side. Too far to get to them before dark. The plan was simple: head back down first thing in the morning and hope they hadn’t moved too far overnight.
Cheetahs don’t typically cover great distances at night, but being that close to our southern boundary made it a genuine gamble. There was every chance they could have slipped off the reserve in the early hours. We set off quickly, made our way south, and joined two other vehicles already searching the area.
It didn’t take long before another vehicle called over the radio to say that they had found them. We were buzzing with excitement as it meant that our gamble had paid off.
Just before we reached the cheetahs, we passed a group of waterbuck with a calf nearby. We moved past them quickly and then spotted the two males ahead, at which point we realised that they had also seen the waterbuck.
One cheetah was up on a termite mound scanning the area. The other had already dropped into the longer grass and begun to stalk. Then the one on the mound came down, and the chase was on.
What unfolded next happened almost faster than we could follow. One of the cheetahs made itself very visible, almost as if it was providing a distraction, while the other tore across the ground toward the waterbuck calf. It was chaos. The waterbuck started to flee with the cheetah in hot pursuit. We followed as best we could through a fortunately open stretch of ground.
Then both the cheetah and the calf disappeared behind a prominent spikethorn bush. We pushed around to the other side, but now we couldn’t see anything. I was asking tracker Tshepo whether he thought the cheetah had caught it. Then, all of a sudden, we spotted the cheetah in the grass, holding the waterbuck calf by the throat.
We were simply amazed at how quickly the whole scene had unfolded and that the cheetah had actually been successful. We sat in silence for a moment, taking in what we had just watched unfold.
What happened next was difficult to watch. The mother waterbuck returned, alarm-calling persistently at the cheetahs, returning again and again, refusing to leave. Whether driven by instinct or something closer to what we might recognise as grief, it is hard to say. Probably both. It is one of those moments in the bush that sits with you. The cheetahs chased her off each time she came too close, but she kept coming back. As much as we had been caught up in the excitement of the hunt, this was a reminder that for every predator that eats, something else pays the price.
The video below captures the hunt. It is raw and unfiltered and a genuine moment in the wild. Some viewers may find certain scenes difficult to watch.
Thanks to Reece Biehler and Londolozi Guests Andrew Barron and Schuyler Standley for capturing this moment.
We watched the rest of the sighting unfold as the two cheetahs began to feed, eating very quickly. The arrival of another predator could mean that they would have to abandon their kill, so feeding quickly was their best chance of getting some benefit from their hard-earned meal.
We watched for another twenty minutes before heading off for a coffee stop, a necessary reset after a morning like that.
It was one of those sightings that reminds you why we spend so much time in the bush. We had taken a bit of a gamble that morning, hoping that these two young males would still be in the area, and within a short space of time, we had witnessed an incredible hunt from start to finish. It was certainly a morning I won’t forget anytime soon.
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on Cheetahs On The Hunt