September in Mashatu is early spring but the rains have not fallen for the past five months so it is very dry, especially away from the main rivers. At this time of the year we get out of camp at 6h00 every morning because sunrise is a few minutes before 6h00.

“It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.” ~ Aristotle

This particular morning, our guide Justice, decided to drive along the M1 past the airfield. The M1, as it is affectionately known, is the main gravel road from the Pontdrift border post to Mashatu main and tented camps. We had been driving for about half an hour when Justice received a message over the radio that there were five cheetahs about 100 metres off the M1 opposite the airfield.

“Wake up early every day so that while others are still dreaming, you can make your dreams come true.” ~ Hal Elrod

After a short search we found the five cheetahs scattered about thirty metres apart lying down in the shade of various acacia and shepherd trees. The cheetah in the image below was playing with dried out ball of elephant dung. All cheetahs, even when they are a few months old, have black tear markings from under their eyes running either side of the nose down to the mouth. These black tear markings are thought to reduce the sun’s glare and improve focus on the targeted prey when moving at speed.

The five cheetahs comprised a cheetah mother and her four almost fully grown male cubs. The flick of the tail showed that the tail is flat from about 200mm from the body. The tail is flattened on a vertical axis and acts as a rudder when the cheetah is moving at high speed.

The terrain was very dry which helped the photography and also helped the cheetahs see further under the trees. You will notice that cheetahs do not all lie in the same direction. This is so they can see an incoming threat or prey from any direction.

We watched the cheetahs resting in the shade for about fifteen minutes when all of sudden all five cheetahs got up very quickly and rushed off together.

One of the cheetahs saw a leopard walking some distance away. Usually a cheetah would not take on a leopard which is much stronger and more aggressive. The leopard saw the incoming cheetahs in time and bolted.

The leopard decided not to take on the five cheetahs and climbed up a small shepherd’s tree. The cheetah were highly excited chirping constantly and moved to within 20 meters of the leopard in the shepherd tree. Cheetahs are able to climb inclined trees or trees with little vegetation but their climbing ability is restricted by their non-retractable claws. They climb the trees to be able to see further across the plains. These cheetahs could not have climbed the dense shepherd tree to get at the leopard.

The stand-off lasted a few minutes after which two of the cheetahs lost interest and started to move away. That was the cue for the leopard to get out of the shepherd tree and make a dash for it. The movement immediately triggered a reaction of all the cheetahs and they chased after the leopard. Realistically, not even five cheetahs would take on the leopard in a fight but the leopard was taking no chances and when the cheetahs were closing in, it scaled up a heavily thorned acacia tree. I looked at the size of the thorns in that acacia and the leopard must have been severely pricked by all the thorns.

“Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive.” ~ Jamais Cascio

Eventually, it became clear to the cheetahs that the leopard was not going to come down from the acacia while they were around so they lost interest and moved off.

All the excitement caught the attention of a lone Spotted hyaena which came over to investigate. When the hyaena arrived on the scene all it found were five cheetahs lying the the shade so it moved off too.

The cheetahs lay in the shade for some time. They had moved quite a distance from the treed leopard and the hyaena disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

After a period one cheetah rose and started to move off with its eyes fixed on something in the distance. The other four watched the lone cheetah walking off with intent.

The other cheetahs quickly picked up on the targeted prey which was an impala. The cheetahs must have run half a kilometre before eventually catching their prey. The take down was too far away for the hyaena to have seen what had happened. The hyaena would have tried to steal the carcass if it had seen what had happened. Immediately after the chase the cheetahs needed to catch their breath and rest due to the buildup of lactic acid in their muscles.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” ~ Henry Ford

For a long time wildlife guides indicated that cheetahs overheat in a hunt and need to cool down before eating their prey. In an article published by the Royal Society, researchers Robyn Hetem et al, studied cheetah hunts at the Tusk Trust Cheetah Rehabilitation Camp within the Okonjima Nature Reserve which is home to the AfriCat Foundation. The research team found that body temperature averaged 38.4 degrees centigrade when the chase was terminated. Storage of body heat did not compromise hunts. The increase in the body temperature following a successful hunts was double that of an unsuccessful hunt even though the level of activity in the hunts was similar. The research paper proposed that the increase in body temperature following successful hunt was a stress hyperthermia, rather than an exercise-induced hyperthermia (https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0472).

Cheetah’s eat their kill fast as it is often stolen by hyaenas or leopards. While the others were feeding there is always one or two cheetahs standing guard looking out for potential threats.

All the cheetahs got to feed on the kill without interruption. The cheetah mother is clearly a superb mother being able to bring up four male cheetah cubs almost to adulthood in a place where lions, leopards and hyaenas were ever present.

We must have spent around 90 minutes with this cheetah family experiencing the period of calm, the threats from unexpected visitors and eventually managing to get a successful kill which they got to finish themselves without interruption.

The interaction with the leopard is something that none of us had ever seen before especially when the appearance of the hyaena looked like it was going to destroy our chances any further action from the cheetahs. Given that cheetahs use a stalk and chase hunting strategy, if the hyaena had decided to shadow the cheetahs it would have seen the chase. The chase and kill took place more than half a kilometre from where we saw the hyaena so thankfully there was no interruption by the hyaena.

“You have got to be out there to experience unusual sightings. Fortune favours those who go out and look for the unexpected. Sitting in your armchair dreaming of fascinating experiences will never build memories and create stories.” ~ Mike Haworth

Our vehicle and one other game viewing vehicle were privileged to experience a fascinating morning watching this family of five cheetahs go through a gambit of experiences.

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike