The sun rises on the dew drenched grass and an nyala jumps the road , celebrating having survived another night. We round the corner and climb the hill to where the cheetah and her cubs have been sighted.
The morning brightens and dries, the cats have finished grooming and streaching and are on the move, working their way down toward the valley bottom. Sibu spots a kudu on the far side, and thinks the four may be interested in her. The kudu is usually quite large for a cheetah, but this one is suckeling a young one.
We follow as the cheetah move, their eyes sharp and clearly with a goal in mind. Once they enter the trees we cannot follow directly, so we pass them and go down to the nearly dry dam where we can see them emerge from the brush. Once there we see another likely target, a small herd of impala.
We waited, seeing nothing for several minutes. We could hear animals alerting in the brush, though. Sibu explained that monkeys or other antelope would alert even if they were in no danger - all the potential prey species watching each others backs.
Soon the nervous impala were looking down into the dry creek bed, I looked where they did and saw cheetah emerging from the trees. At that moment I remembered Mark's comment at Ngala - if the prey sights the predator before the pounce, the hunt is over. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, Sibu cried out "The Kill, the Kill she is making the kill, I turned in time to see a fleeing impala try to make a reverse down hill turn, the mother cheetah turning inside and bounding after then impala and cheetah were down in the tall grass.
As Sibu took us closer, the impala gained it's feet once, only to be hauled down again. Finally we reached a vantage where we could see golden spotted fur in golden grass. Every now and then the cheetah would sit up for a moment or two, then reach down and grab at the impala - - when it kicked and moved, she would resume choking it to death. Finally satisfied that the kill was complete, the mother called to her cubs a sharp chirping cry. When they arrived, they immediately began to feed, the mother, still winded nearly fifteen minutes later, lay down to recover before she ate another fifteen later.
*****
Long later, we are the last to go and see the large male lion found by other trackers during the day. (So as not to interfere too much with the animals, no more than 3 vehicles can be at a sighting) It is well after sunset, and the sighting is illuminated only by red lensed lights that do the least harm to night vision.
The male was there, and so were the lioness and her cubs we had seen before. All were feeding on something obscured by the brush about 10 yards to our right Unlike the cheetah, lion are not quiet when they eat. (There is a ripping sound interspersed with loud cracking.) They have little fear of something trying to steal their kill. There was a stench in the air that smelled like a horse barn. Sibu told us that the lions had spilled the stomach contents, I suppose that all herbivores have similar smelling waste.
We were near a dam and Sam, sitting next to me, said, I think I hear hippos coming. An entirely reasonable thought since the hippos had been booming their evening routine. (A thunderous "GROUGH" followed by and equally thunderous "How how how how" Though completely inhuman, it sounds for all the world like laughter.) Then the big male is away from the kill and moving our way. Sibu removes the red filter and points it toward the quiet crunching coming from the left that Sam had heard. This was no hippo, but a large croc, attracted by the smell of the stomach, looking for a free meal.
Sibu and another ranger agreed to back up and see if the lion and croc would fight. We move from nearly bumper to bumper to about 15 yards space. The lights are extinguished and Sibu's hushed voice explains that, some weeks ago, lions had killed a large croc. But that had taken hours and the efforts of an entire pride, about a dozen adults.
Illuminated now by only stars and the sliver of a crescent moon, we hear the lion rumbling it's warning. (It is tempting to compare the sound to the purring of a house kitty, but that sound you can only feel if you are holding the cat) The rumble moves towards where we had seen the croc, gets louder, then accompanied with a loud hiss, and the stap of the croc's jaws snapping shut. Red lights flare and the male glares at the croc, hidden in the grass, then turns toward us. Some flash pictures are taken from the other vehicle, and my camera is at the ready, but we are implored to just be still. He approaches Amanda, seated to the left in front of me, then looks directly at Sam on my left, steps forward to less than a body length away, turns toward the rear of the vehicle - around the back and down my side. At the moment, I thought I could touch him had I reached out my hand. In truth, I would have had to lean out a bit. Even though he was only two feet from the vehicle, I was seated higher than his head.
After determining that we were no threat, he moved ahead and between the vehicles, guarding the passage between the croc and the kill. We backed up a bit and saw the lioness dragging the carcase of a male nyala up the hill. Then heard her come back and scrape dirt and brush over the spilled entrails. The stench abated somewnat, the male followed back into the brush and we decided that it was time to leave them to finish the meal.
The morning brightens and dries, the cats have finished grooming and streaching and are on the move, working their way down toward the valley bottom. Sibu spots a kudu on the far side, and thinks the four may be interested in her. The kudu is usually quite large for a cheetah, but this one is suckeling a young one.
We follow as the cheetah move, their eyes sharp and clearly with a goal in mind. Once they enter the trees we cannot follow directly, so we pass them and go down to the nearly dry dam where we can see them emerge from the brush. Once there we see another likely target, a small herd of impala.
We waited, seeing nothing for several minutes. We could hear animals alerting in the brush, though. Sibu explained that monkeys or other antelope would alert even if they were in no danger - all the potential prey species watching each others backs.
Soon the nervous impala were looking down into the dry creek bed, I looked where they did and saw cheetah emerging from the trees. At that moment I remembered Mark's comment at Ngala - if the prey sights the predator before the pounce, the hunt is over. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, Sibu cried out "The Kill, the Kill she is making the kill, I turned in time to see a fleeing impala try to make a reverse down hill turn, the mother cheetah turning inside and bounding after then impala and cheetah were down in the tall grass.
As Sibu took us closer, the impala gained it's feet once, only to be hauled down again. Finally we reached a vantage where we could see golden spotted fur in golden grass. Every now and then the cheetah would sit up for a moment or two, then reach down and grab at the impala - - when it kicked and moved, she would resume choking it to death. Finally satisfied that the kill was complete, the mother called to her cubs a sharp chirping cry. When they arrived, they immediately began to feed, the mother, still winded nearly fifteen minutes later, lay down to recover before she ate another fifteen later.*****
Long later, we are the last to go and see the large male lion found by other trackers during the day. (So as not to interfere too much with the animals, no more than 3 vehicles can be at a sighting) It is well after sunset, and the sighting is illuminated only by red lensed lights that do the least harm to night vision.
The male was there, and so were the lioness and her cubs we had seen before. All were feeding on something obscured by the brush about 10 yards to our right Unlike the cheetah, lion are not quiet when they eat. (There is a ripping sound interspersed with loud cracking.) They have little fear of something trying to steal their kill. There was a stench in the air that smelled like a horse barn. Sibu told us that the lions had spilled the stomach contents, I suppose that all herbivores have similar smelling waste.
We were near a dam and Sam, sitting next to me, said, I think I hear hippos coming. An entirely reasonable thought since the hippos had been booming their evening routine. (A thunderous "GROUGH" followed by and equally thunderous "How how how how" Though completely inhuman, it sounds for all the world like laughter.) Then the big male is away from the kill and moving our way. Sibu removes the red filter and points it toward the quiet crunching coming from the left that Sam had heard. This was no hippo, but a large croc, attracted by the smell of the stomach, looking for a free meal.
Sibu and another ranger agreed to back up and see if the lion and croc would fight. We move from nearly bumper to bumper to about 15 yards space. The lights are extinguished and Sibu's hushed voice explains that, some weeks ago, lions had killed a large croc. But that had taken hours and the efforts of an entire pride, about a dozen adults.
Illuminated now by only stars and the sliver of a crescent moon, we hear the lion rumbling it's warning. (It is tempting to compare the sound to the purring of a house kitty, but that sound you can only feel if you are holding the cat) The rumble moves towards where we had seen the croc, gets louder, then accompanied with a loud hiss, and the stap of the croc's jaws snapping shut. Red lights flare and the male glares at the croc, hidden in the grass, then turns toward us. Some flash pictures are taken from the other vehicle, and my camera is at the ready, but we are implored to just be still. He approaches Amanda, seated to the left in front of me, then looks directly at Sam on my left, steps forward to less than a body length away, turns toward the rear of the vehicle - around the back and down my side. At the moment, I thought I could touch him had I reached out my hand. In truth, I would have had to lean out a bit. Even though he was only two feet from the vehicle, I was seated higher than his head.
After determining that we were no threat, he moved ahead and between the vehicles, guarding the passage between the croc and the kill. We backed up a bit and saw the lioness dragging the carcase of a male nyala up the hill. Then heard her come back and scrape dirt and brush over the spilled entrails. The stench abated somewnat, the male followed back into the brush and we decided that it was time to leave them to finish the meal.
1 comment:
After that description, I think I will have a salad for lunch.
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