It was my best Cheetah sighting EVER!!!! Up close and personal.
This time because of a partly broken dvd camera I have footage without the shake. Hubby had to use the eye piece cause the display screen stopped working - it is the best thing that ever could have happened.
It was the 9th of Feb and we were in front of the Crocodile Bridge gate at 05:00 armed with steaming coffee, cameras and binocs. It was cheetah day, my mind was set on it and I took the only road where I have seen many droppings as evidence. The day started good with lots of game like Blue Wildebeest, Impala, zebra and warthog.
We turned up to the S28, it is a gravel road that runs along Mozambique and we found ourselves in the middle of a herd of elephants. Oh how I LOVE elephants. We stayed there and watched them for about 5 minutes before the matriarch made it clear that she had enough of us and we moved on. I was ready for a 13 hour search for cheetah when - there they were - IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!!!!!
...
They were only meters away from the elephants!
We sat by them for almost a half an hour before they decided to move on and low and behold, they did not leave the road but ran for over a kilometre IN THE ROAD!
They picked up a smell from the bushes and really seemed bothered by it, so much so that they did not even chase the warthog that 'by accident' crossed the road! The poor warthog, they had such a fright I am sure they ran all the way to Mozambique!!!
Their relaxed behaviour completely changed to nervousness, it must have been a lion smell.
But as all good things must come to an end they left the road and disappeared into the savanna grassland.
In the video you will see how close they were to the elephants and when they started jogging and saw the elephant 2 of them looked back at us almost as if they were checking if the car was still behind them for safety. You will also see the poor warthog running past.
Sorry that this is the closest that I can bring them to you, but I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCOXpQZ_y1A"]YouTube - Cheetahs Kruger Park Feb 2011[/ame]
This time because of a partly broken dvd camera I have footage without the shake. Hubby had to use the eye piece cause the display screen stopped working - it is the best thing that ever could have happened.
It was the 9th of Feb and we were in front of the Crocodile Bridge gate at 05:00 armed with steaming coffee, cameras and binocs. It was cheetah day, my mind was set on it and I took the only road where I have seen many droppings as evidence. The day started good with lots of game like Blue Wildebeest, Impala, zebra and warthog.
We turned up to the S28, it is a gravel road that runs along Mozambique and we found ourselves in the middle of a herd of elephants. Oh how I LOVE elephants. We stayed there and watched them for about 5 minutes before the matriarch made it clear that she had enough of us and we moved on. I was ready for a 13 hour search for cheetah when - there they were - IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!!!!!
They were only meters away from the elephants!
We sat by them for almost a half an hour before they decided to move on and low and behold, they did not leave the road but ran for over a kilometre IN THE ROAD!
They picked up a smell from the bushes and really seemed bothered by it, so much so that they did not even chase the warthog that 'by accident' crossed the road! The poor warthog, they had such a fright I am sure they ran all the way to Mozambique!!!
Their relaxed behaviour completely changed to nervousness, it must have been a lion smell.
But as all good things must come to an end they left the road and disappeared into the savanna grassland.
In the video you will see how close they were to the elephants and when they started jogging and saw the elephant 2 of them looked back at us almost as if they were checking if the car was still behind them for safety. You will also see the poor warthog running past.
Sorry that this is the closest that I can bring them to you, but I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCOXpQZ_y1A"]YouTube - Cheetahs Kruger Park Feb 2011[/ame]
