Cheetah Kill

This is something that I never thought I would witness first hand. Three cheetah's stalking, chasing and killing a baby Topi, yet you see it on wildlife programmes all the time. The main difference between real life and the TV is that it is over in literally a few seconds. You don't get to see it repeated or in slow motion. Also when you see it on TV it seems less real, even though it is natural behaviour in order to survive, being so removed from my everyday life I didn't know how I would feel about seeing at first hand, one animal kill and eat another. All I can say is that I didn't think much at all, it's just so amazing to watch, to be part of it. The skill and speed of the cheetah is breath taking. My husband always wanted to see a cheetah kill so that he could say the words 'that was ballistic' like Johnathon Scott on the Big Cat Diaries, and the one chance he got he was so mesmerised that he didn't even remember to say it!

Tension builds from the moment one of the cheetah's first looks around and spots a likely target. They must communicate in some way or just maybe act from pure instinct, because they work as a team, with one stealthily approaching the baby Topi directly, keeping as low as possible and blending in with the long grass, while the other two move out wide in different directions to cut off the Topi's escape. All the while, barely able to breathe, wondering will they be successful, both wanting them to be and wanting them not to be at the same time.

After watching the chase and the kill we drove around to where the they had settled to enjoy their meal. The cheetah that that had taken the lead and had done most of the running and chased the baby Topi down was out of breath and was resting while the other two were already tucking in. The only thing was, the Topi was not yet dead and cried out one last time, the mother who was standing not far away also heard this. I've never been one to transfer human sentiments onto animals and I have no idea how gazelle's think and feel but I for one was a little upset for her.

Cheetah's tend to eat as quickly as possible in case another, bigger predator comes in and takes their meal away from them but today they relax a little as there was nothing else around.

I will be in Kenya for the month of April so will not be posting any new blogs for a while but will be back in May with lots more stories and photo's.