The Masai Mara is well known for its relatively high density of predators. The Mara offers cheetahs plenty of space and unimpeded views across the plains. This helps them find prey and avoid competing predators such as lions, hyaenas and leopards. Cheetahs are diurnal hunters so tend not to come into contact with nocturnal hunters such as lions, hyaenas and leopards during the day. Night is a dangerous time for cheetahs and they need to hide and keep out of the way of nocturnal predators.

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.” ~ Jim Fowler

We were up and out of camp at 6h00 the first morning. After we had turned north onto the main gravel road we saw a female cheetah walking down the road towards us. It was unusual that she was soaking wet. It had not rained the night before so we assumed that she must have swam across the Mara river by herself at first light.

I cannot imagine how terrifying it must have been for her to cross the river knowing how many, and how big, the Nile crocodiles were in the river. Before she crossed the river she would not have known whether there were lions lying in the bushes on the other bank.

As this female cheetah strode towards us she was constantly looking around. It was still early enough for lions and leopards to be on the move and she needed to be very careful.

After she had walked past our game vehicle she turned right, off the road, and headed towards the lugga. We all held our breath because we knew that the leopardess, Nshipai, kept her cubs in that section of the lugga. In addition, the four lionesses we had seen finishing off the remains of a reedbuck the previous afternoon, were walking down the track to where we were parked.

As this female cheetah walked towards the lugga she looked very agitated. She must have been able to smell the leopards in that area and may have been down wind of the lions and picked up their scent too. We quickly drove to the other side of the lugga hoping she would not get tangled up with Nishpai.

“We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.” ~ William Hazlitt

With a huge sign of relief from all of us in the game vehicle, the female cheetah emerged from the lugga without incident.

She started to walk up towards the ridge away from the road to get a better view of the area and see if there was any potential prey. Every 50 to 100 metres she would stop and look and listen.

After about quarter of an hour of walking she reached a small anthill which she stood on to have a look around. She sat on the anthill for some time just looking, listening and assessing area, we presume, for potential threats and/or prey. The next image shows the extent of the plains in this part of the Mara Triangle.

“Every creature was designed to serve a purpose. Learn from animals for they are there to teach you the way of life. There is a wealth of knowledge that is openly accessible in nature.” ~ Suzy Kassem

Female cheetahs are solitary except when rearing a litter. Mothers with cubs will usually stay with in close proximity of one another. Cubs usually leave their mother any time between 15 and 24 months old. Usually, females only come in contact with other cheetahs to mate. By contrast, male cheetahs often form coalitions of 2-3 in order to defend more land and take on bigger prey. These coalitions are mostly formed between brothers, but sometimes include outsiders. It is estimated that about 30% of coalitions are made up of unrelated males.

A solitary female cheetah cannot take on large prey so would normally hunt Thompson’s gazelle, reedbuck or young Topis or wildebeest. They may also try to capture young warthogs and scrub hares when they can find them.

After watching this female cheetah for about 45 minutes we left her in peace when she lay down to rest.

On a separate occasion after breakfast near the picnic site that overlooks the inselbergs looking south to the Serengeti, we found a coalition of two male Cheetahs who were hunting.

“Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is.” ~ Anonymous

These two males were wandering across the plain looking for prey. They appeared to be relatively young adult males judging from the sharpness of their teeth and state of their ears.

After a brief rest and lookout on top of some prominent rocks, the coalition set their sights on a family of warthogs about three hundred metres away. They immediately started running. The grass was relatively long so they had to run by bouncing up every now and then to keep sight of their quarry.

Once the two males got close, the female warthog and her piglets dashed down a burrow leaving the male to ward off the intruders which he did without too much trouble. A cheetah will not risk getting gored by the tusk of a large male warthog.

The survey released in May 2023 by the Mara Predator Conservation Programme showed estimates for new cheetah density in the Masai Mara National Reserve and the surrounding wildlife conservancies measuring over 2000 square kilometres had reduced from 1.2 per cent (32 cheetahs) in 2021 to 0.88 per cent (22 cheetahs) in 2022. The survey showed that lion density and abundance in the Masai Mara ecosystem increased slightly while the cheetah population dropped by 31 per cent in the two years from 2021 to 2022.

The cheetah, which has suffered a dramatic 90 per cent decline over the past century, is becoming extinct in 18 countries where it once ranged. In 1900 there were over 100,000 Cheetahs. In 1970 their numbers plummeted to 20,000-25,000 cheetahs, and to this day there are only 10,000 cheetahs, with less than 10,000 adults surviving in Africa and a meagre 50 in Asia, mainly around Iran’s Kavir desert. One tenth of total cheetah population live in captivity.(Source: Big Cat Rescue).

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals… In a world older and more complete than ours, they are more finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.” ~ Henry Beston

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

Have fun, Mike