Lions and cheetahs rest most of the day.

In fact lions sleep up to 22 hours out of 24! And cheetahs, due to their very specific muscular development, allowing them to sprint up to 110km/h, also means that their muscles need sometimes hours to fully recover after such a sprint. Endurance is not their forte at all.

So for both lions and cheetahs, preying on game is the most important portion of their hunting. Once hungry, cheetahs and lions will move around slowly, observe the wildlife around them, trying to evaluate any opportunities. A classic technique is to approach an unsuspecting target, wind blowing away from the target (masking the smell of the predator, and also reducing any noise alert), in high grass, trying to get as close to the target as possible without being seen.

Cats, due to their claws, and also muscular make-up achieve breakneck acceleration, so the surprise element is key. Impalas, for instance, achieve unbelievable speeds as well, and can sustain these speeds for much longer than any lion and especially cheetah, but it takes them several seconds longer to accelerate to this speed due to the lower grip of their hoof-like feet. It is this window of opportunity that lions and cheetahs use to take down a victim before it even gets really going. Tactics and technique is everything, and cats learn throughout life. As they age, their kill success rates increase, especially if an experienced pride works together as a team.

Our cheetahs love hunting in the near vicinity of rivers. River beds give them the needed straight surface to accelerate, while the thick bush next to the river bed is perfect for camouflage. We even had a cheetah kill right next to one of our honeymoon suites a few weeks back, as the lodge is near the river bed. Our lion pride loves the open spaces, of which there are many on our reserves. They observe wildlife from the thick bush on the edges of these open spaces, and tend to take down their preys on these plains. Their preferred targets are impala, wildebeest, and kudu, but they also took down a giraffe at least once, so they have courage!

Here a couple of photos of a cheetah and a lioness out on a hunt, seen 2 days ago, and photographed by Mike.