About a week ago Nkateko, our lodge maintenance guy, was working on the jacuzzi pump of honeymoon suite 1, when he suddenly saw an impala run past him. Before he knew it, two cheetahs were in hot pursuit, and took down the impala right in front of him, we’re talking 12 meters away from him, literally. It all happened within a couple of seconds, and immediately Nkateko realised that this is the sort of stuff you only see on TV, but this was so much more powerful. It took him a short while to recompose himself, and he ran off to the lodge to tell everyone what was going on right at the lodge.

Justine radioed Mike and Jon who were out on safari with all the guests to let them know that the action was happening so much closer to home. As noone knew how the cats would react to humans approaching them on foot, Mike drove the Landcruiser (with all guests) past the lodge to show everyone the two cheetahs who, in the meanwhile, had dragged their kill right in front of honeymoon suite 1, and were happily feeding away. But these two cheetahs are like honeybadgers: they don’t care! They were very relaxed indeed.

After this, Mike escorted Brittany and Tim back to their honeymoon suite, and after they had been observing the two cats right from their patio, they invited all other guests over as well, and so everyone could see the going ons literally a few yards away. What a spectacular sighting, what a moment, and what amazing photos taken! Wow, really.

While this is most likely a one-off event, there is definitely a trend where I can say that we start seeing cheetahs now on such a regular basis, that this reserve, amongst others, seems to be gradually turning into a cheetah-specialist reserve. Well, good for them, as the cheetah is uniquely rare, and so to see them hunt so well, and feed so well, it seems that we have created here with the conservancy something truly amazing for the conservation of these animals. Something to be proud of, for sure.

Enjoy the photos!