We had been searching for the cheetah and her 2 cubs for a few days. I had wonderful guests that were very eager on spotting specifically her, for it is a favorite amongst everyone even myself. She is a cheetah that seems to survive against at all odds. She’s an expert at evading lion and always seems to come out on top no matter what the situation is.
Over 3 days we spotting the occasional male cheetah; one being the father to her beautiful cubs. Although this made our drives spectacular we had set our minds firmly on finding her. One morning Evan and myself had decided to split the safari group in two. He would do a walk and I would do a drive. We wanted to maximize our search area and cast our net as wide as possible. Only two hours into our drive and Evans walk we picked up her fresh tracks about 500m from the western airstrip! This was a very good sign!
Only 5 minutes later we actually found her in full hunting mode! At this moment our eyes were glued to her and her potential prey. Suddenly we remember that Evan and the other guests were still on foot. They were heading straight for her! Luckily I managed to get hold of Evan and we decided to hold back a bit as to not scare her off. Her hunting attempt was not successful and it was getting hot now so luckily the mother cheetah decided to call her two cubs and they promptly went to lay down under a large tree.
We proceeded to pick Evan up and his walking party and we all enjoyed this wonderful sighting together. What a privilege it was to find her after tracking for so many days. I knew our guests would never forget this amazing day.
Telling of the tale done by Sibusiso H Nzima (Mhondoro Field Guide)
