As I mentioned in the last post, Nelson very much wanted to find the cheetahs for us on our last drive and by some miracle (and Ian's keen spotting) he did. Yesterday morning we'd seen how hungry the mum looked and it was clear that she hadn't eaten anything overnight and the likelihood was that the cubs hadn't either. She was therefore pretty focussed on getting something to eat for them, but the cubs did what all small children do, and played around.
The chirruping sound you can hear isn't birds, but the cheetahs communicating.
Mostly a collection of pictures, but I'll add a few anecdotes where I can.
As you can see this cub still has some of her "fluffy, baby fur" although it is rapidly growing out.
The cubs are still too young to actively participate in a hunt/kill but I think Mum is starting to try and teach them some of the basics.
Fortunately litter of any form is very rare in the conservancies - Nelson and Ian both declined to jump down from the truck to recover this piece, I can't imagine why? Luckily, the cub soon left it alone.
If you're wondering how much the cheetah was bothered by us, here is your answer.
These photos don't really show how big the tree was, but to give you an idea I was standing on a seat in the truck aiming my camera straight out of the roof.
Getting down wasn't quite as easy.
Nelson was confident that we would have the cheetahs to ourselves for a good while longer as Patrick and Co were still on the other side of the conservancy when he'd reported the sighting over the radio, so he suggested we have breakfast whilst we watched them. I declined as I didn't want to miss anything or spill my breakfast in the process.
Why oh why, is there always an annoying blade of grass!
One of the cubs was definitely more adventurous and loved climbing.
Not the most elegant way to climb another tree stump (taken on my older camera, hence the colour difference).
Another tree, another dismount.
Unfortunately, I think I got over excited when this photo opportunity presented itself and rather mashed the shutter as it's not totally sharp - what a waste!
Spending so much time with these fabulous animals has been so special - just look at her!
We'd followed her to a more wooded area and she was clearly in hunting mode.
It's not often that I'm happy with a photo I've taken and I've only done a very quick edit on this, but this is an exception - I love it!
Mum had her eye on some Impala but her main problem was a large herd of cattle who were approaching from the left as they would alert the Impala to her presence.
By now Patrick with Greg and his clients had arrived and so we moved back a bit (safari etiquette). Both trucks sat around for quite a long time waiting, hoping, that something would happen but really there were too many cattle nearby. Also there didn't seem to be any shepherds around (or are they only with sheep?) that Nelson could speak to and explain what was happening so all we could do was wait. After what seemed like an absolute age, she left the cubs in a bush and made this half-hearted attempt.
Another rubbish video compiled of stills, just to give the flavour of a cheetah at speed.
Blink and you'd miss it - but that's all I have!