Cheetah Cub
Last month we finally made it back to MalaMala, in my view one of the best places on earth.
We spent 3 weeks in this gorgeous game reserve and as far as game viewing is concerned there wasn't a day that there wasn't a surprise in store for us.
We already had had a great day and the sun was about to set when Matt, our ranger suddenly went quiet, listening to something that came in through his (earpiece) radio. He stopped the car and turned towards me saying: "Right, the good news is that a Cheetah with cubs has been found and the bad news is that we're not going there... It's just too far north for us to reach before sunset"......
What!! My very first cheetah babies in 20 years, about 10 kilometers up north, a gorgeous sunset ahead and we're NOT going??!!
I didn't say a word, but according to Hans, if auras could kill, Matt would have dropped stone cold dead at that very spot. He kept resisting my voodoo for another 15 minutes but
finally he stopped the car once more and gave in, declaring that the temperature in the vehicle had dropped so far down that he couldn't stand it any more. And warning me that we might be heading for a disappointment because the sighting was immediately declared a restricted and 'one-vehicle'-sighting only, as not to disturb the little family. Ok, ok, fine, whatever but get going!!
When we arrived at the scene, the ranger that had seen them lost them in the dense thickets. This being a one-vehicle sighting, we were on our own to find them again. Matt kept his nerves and slowly and carefully started driving in a wide circle around the area they were last seen. And then.... there they were, crossing the road just in front of us!!
The sun was already down so any action was impossible to capture, But boy, was I happy with the sighting!
This certainly was one of the very best sightings, not only of this trip, but of my entire 20 years of visiting Africa. MalaMala has the highest density of Leopards and Lions of any game reserve I know of so Cheetah have a hard time there being the smallest and the most vulnerable of the Big Cats and because the habitat is not really favourable for them.
I hope Matt has forgiven me meanwhile :-)
Cheetah Cub
Last month we finally made it back to MalaMala, in my view one of the best places on earth.
We spent 3 weeks in this gorgeous game reserve and as far as game viewing is concerned there wasn't a day that there wasn't a surprise in store for us.
We already had had a great day and the sun was about to set when Matt, our ranger suddenly went quiet, listening to something that came in through his (earpiece) radio. He stopped the car and turned towards me saying: "Right, the good news is that a Cheetah with cubs has been found and the bad news is that we're not going there... It's just too far north for us to reach before sunset"......
What!! My very first cheetah babies in 20 years, about 10 kilometers up north, a gorgeous sunset ahead and we're NOT going??!!
I didn't say a word, but according to Hans, if auras could kill, Matt would have dropped stone cold dead at that very spot. He kept resisting my voodoo for another 15 minutes but
finally he stopped the car once more and gave in, declaring that the temperature in the vehicle had dropped so far down that he couldn't stand it any more. And warning me that we might be heading for a disappointment because the sighting was immediately declared a restricted and 'one-vehicle'-sighting only, as not to disturb the little family. Ok, ok, fine, whatever but get going!!
When we arrived at the scene, the ranger that had seen them lost them in the dense thickets. This being a one-vehicle sighting, we were on our own to find them again. Matt kept his nerves and slowly and carefully started driving in a wide circle around the area they were last seen. And then.... there they were, crossing the road just in front of us!!
The sun was already down so any action was impossible to capture, But boy, was I happy with the sighting!
This certainly was one of the very best sightings, not only of this trip, but of my entire 20 years of visiting Africa. MalaMala has the highest density of Leopards and Lions of any game reserve I know of so Cheetah have a hard time there being the smallest and the most vulnerable of the Big Cats and because the habitat is not really favourable for them.
I hope Matt has forgiven me meanwhile :-)