It was around 7h00 on a fresh spring morning in Mashatu Game Reserve in south east Botswana. We were travelling in our open game vehicle along the dry bed in the Majale river. This is usually a wonderful place to see wildlife crossing the riverbed on its way to its feeding places. The diurnal wildlife is going to its feeding grounds, and the nocturnal wildlife is looking for a place to sleep. The cathemeral wildlife, which is active both in the day and at night, are wandering around looking for opportunities.

A few hundred metres in front of us we saw a young leopard crossing the riverbed.

“If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.” ~ Heraclitus

The young leopard climbed up the far bank and disappeared into the crotons. Undeterred, we found a route for our vehicle up the steep river bank and started to look for the young leopard which we expected to be mobile and hunting. To our surprise we saw her up a dead tree looking down at the ground in front of her.

What she, and we, did not realise is that there were two fully grown lionesses lying in the shade of a bush close to the dead tree. This leopard must have climbed the river bank and walked straight into the two sleeping lionesses. Instinctively, this leopardess climbed the tree out of danger from the two lionesses.

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask, act. Action will delineate and define you.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

This young leopardess settled down for what looked likely to be a long wait. She kept her eyes on the lionesses all the times.

Every now and then this leopardess looked up, very alert because she was assessing whether the lionesses were sufficiently fast asleep for her to descend the tree and make her escape.

Alert, wary and patient.

The lionesses seemed to not have seen her and rested peacefully never looking up at her, high up in the tree about 30 metres away. The leopardess was caught up a dead tree with no protection from the rising sun which was getting hotter by the hour.

Eventually we decided to leave the stand-off and go and look for a little more action. About two hours later we decided to go back and see how the stand off was developing. It was now really hot, the young leopardess was no where to be seen. The lionesses were lying peacefully in the shade. The stand off seemed to have ended happily for all concerned.

“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.” ~ Dale Carnegie

The young leopard obviously got a big fright walking straight into sleeping lions. Her instinctive reaction was to climb the nearest tree to get out of harm s way. The intensifying heat from the rising sun must have forced her to take a calculated risk and come down the tree and escape to a cooler or shady secure place.

“But life inevitably throws us curve balls, unexpected circumstances that remind us to expect the unexpected. I’ve come to understand these curve balls are the beautiful unfolding of both karma and current.” ~ Carre Otis

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike

It was just before seven in the morning in Mashatu Game Reserve in south eastern Botswana. We were on our game vehicle looking for a cheetah family, comprising a mother and her four almost adult cubs. We were looking in the area they had been last been seen the night before.

“Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another.” ~ John Muir

Cheetahs do not usually move at night which is when the lions, leopards and hyaenas are all active. We therefore knew that were in the area. After searching for a while (in the right area) we found the cheetah family on the move.

There were three sub-adult males and a female with their mother. They were walking through the bush with intent. We followed from a distance so as not to interfere with their search for food. When cheetahs sweep the bush like this anything can happen.

“Let go of all your thoughts and concerns. Immerse yourself in the moment. Look and listen, and nature will slowly reveal herself to you. It takes time and respect for you to tune in. Only then will you begin to truly see.” ~ Mike Haworth

It did! An adult male Steenbok broke its cover and bolted.

It was a astounding how quickly that Steenbok dashed up and over the rise on the stony terrain.

In an instant, one of the young cheetah males took up chase. It was impossible to get both quarry and predator in the same image because there was such as large gap between the two when they came past us. The cheetah’s acceleration was breathtaking and it was quickly in the chase.

We lost sight of the two as the eternal dash of life and death played out. We could only see where the two had run to from a game vehicle which had stopped on the main Mashatu road. That vehicle must have had a prime sighting of the cheetah actually catching the Steenbok.

Unfortunately through ignorance or otherwise, one of the guests stood up on the game vehicle, which must have been quite close to the cheetah with its kill. In the midst of strangling its prey, the young cheetah got a fright when the person stood up (in the game vehicle), scaring the young cheetah and it ran away leaving its half dead Steenbok catch.

As it happened, an adult Black-backed jackal was close by and witnessed the take down. It saw the young cheetah leave the half strangled Steenbok unattended. Needless to say after watching to see that the cheetah did not return, the jackal seized the half dead victim. The jackal bit into the back of the Steenbok’s neck in an attempt to finish off the strangulation. It worked.

Once the Steenbok had stopped breathing, the jackal tried to pull the dead antelope away from the glaring view of the spectators.

The Black-backed jackal clearly could not believe his luck.

This jackal kept on looking around to check that no other predator had seen what was going down. Every now and then he looked to check that the Steenbok was actually dead.

“If you chase perfection, you often catch excellence. ” ~ William Fowble

The jackal eventually managed to cut into the Steenbok’s hide and began to feed. Strangely the jackal did not gorge itself. Perhaps the final killing and dragging was too strenuous a task, and after feeding briefly the jackal backed off about twenty metres from the kill to rest. After a while we left the jackal and its kill and went looking for the cheetahs again

The cheetahs having lost their prey slowly made their way back to each other and regrouped.

The cheetah involved in the chase was still breathing deeply.

“Stop chasing what your mind wants and you’ll get what your soul needs.” ~ Anonymous

The most amazing aspect of the whole sighting was that the chase must have lasted just a few seconds and took place over probably 400 metres. It also took place over very uneven stony ground with gullies and thorn bushes everywhere.

The one, among many, impressive aspects about wildlife is that there is no apparent animosity over the loss of the kill. Acceptance is swift and the predator moves on. Within twenty or so minutes the family had reunited and stopped to rest in the shade of a shepherd’s bush, alert for the next opportunity.

The thrill of the chase is beyond description. It is fresh and cool, early in the morning. There is the sound of birds everywhere. You are watching the cheetahs quietly making their way through the bush. Then, in an instant there is action. A chase is underway with the sound of hooves and pads on the stony ground and in a flash there is just wisps of dust swirling in the air.

“I would rather have an mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.” ~ Gerry Spence

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike