My guests and I decided to spend most of the day out on drive as it was beautiful, cool, with overcast conditions, which can be perfect for the movement of animals and particularly predators.
After finding a young female leopard hunting in thick bush, we decided to move on and see what else was out on the reserve. We had a report of a cheetah sighting on the property earlier that morning and decided to try and follow up in the area.
We moved into the area where it was last seen and searched for a while before we were lucky enough to finally find it walking straight down one of the roads in our direction.
Being the only vehicle out on drive at the time enabled us to sit and enjoy the sighting for a long period of time. The male cheetah moved around, marking his territory as he went, when suddenly he took some interest in a herd of impala up the road.
We waited patiently as he began to stalk the herd, before setting off across an open area in their direction. Within seconds he was on top of them and he managed to catch himself a baby impala, not more than a couple of days old. We watched as he began to play with his meal for a couple minutes before finally killing it and starting to feed.
After a while my guests and I decided to start making our way back to the lodge. We had literally driven about 1km from where we had witnessed the male cheetah make his kill, when we spotted something running in front of us. We moved forward for closer inspection, only to find another cheetah! This time it was a female that had also just chased and caught a baby impala. We couldn’t believe our eyes and luck must have been on our side as it’s not often that we get to witness a kill, let alone two kills in a space of a couple minutes.
Cathryn Gabor says
Amazing and even better that this was with our Africa 360 guests! We love Earth Lodge and look forward to seeing everyone at Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge with our group of 17 in July 2020. Well done Shawn. Beautiful photos and sightings!
Denise Vouri says
Awesome!