We had heard about a female cheetah and her two cubs that had been found on our morning safari, and with uncontainable excitement we went off to go and see them, not knowing what was in store.

At first, we watched them lying on top of a small termite mound with the cubs being hidden behind some grass (a beautiful sighting nonetheless) but soon the mother stood up and started walking off into the bush. We continued to follow her and watched as she climbed atop every termite mound to scan her surroundings, we could see that she was looking for something to hunt!

We trailed behind her and her cubs for around an hour as the game drive was slowly coming to an end, but then in the distance, we spotted a large herd of impala grazing, completely unaware of her presence. Excitement filled the vehicle and we decided to wait to see what would come of it, so we kept our movements around her to a minimum to allow her to hunt.

We sat patiently, watching her and her cubs walk down the road when suddenly, she crouched down, the game was on! She took a few steps into the bush and then off like a bullet she went, leaving her cubs in the dust as she darted through the thickets. We tried to keep up with her but lost sight and drove around looking for any sign of her and soon spotted her lying on the ground with an impala kill. We were all cheering, chuffed with what we had witnessed but also because she had caught a meal that would sustain her and her cubs for a while.

The female lay on the ground at first and then began tugging at the kill and tried to move it out of sight, and then began calling for her cubs. They ran towards her and triumphantly greeted her almost as if to say, “well done”. The two cubs then inspected the kill tugging at the softer parts like the ears, eyes, and anus but they needed the help of their mother to open the carcass for them.

We waited for the female to approach the carcass, but she was still trying to catch her breath and we became increasingly worried that the commotion would have attracted too much attention, and she would need to eat as quickly as possible before being pushed away by something bigger than her.

Only a few minutes had passed when one vulture was seen circling and then two and then three and then an uncountable number of vultures began circling and diving down to the trees around the carcass. We sat knowing that the sheer amount of vultures circling was bound to attract even more attention, and then out from the thickets emerged two hyenas.

The cubs were still trying to tug at the kill when they caught wind of the hyenas and rushed off into the opposite direction, their mother tried to hiss and snarl at the two hyenas, but knowing very well that she would be overpowered she ran, leaving a completely untouched impala carcass to be enjoyed by the hyenas instead... We watched the two devour the impala in minutes, followed by the vultures hopping around on the ground marching towards the carcass trying to get a piece of it as well.

It was a rollercoaster of events to witness, but this is more than likely something that will happen many times throughout a cheetah’s life, due to them being low down on the predator hierarchy. Nature, well, wildlife in general is a beautiful thing and while some moments may be slightly melancholier than others, this is the nature of nature.