FINALLY, WE LOCATED THE CHEETAHS

I was still with Vincent this morning out on game drive. As we reached the open Serengeti area, we heard some alarm calls from the clever vervet monkeys. Normally when monkeys give out an alarm call, it usually means lions, leopard or cheetahs are in the area.

The alarm was given loudly. We went off the road to have a look. I stopped and switched off the vehicle engine to listen again. The monkeys had stopped calling. Then we heard red billed spurfowls giving out an alarm call too along the tree line we were driving on. We followed the spurfowl alarm.

Then we drove past a small open patch along an animal path. We saw three different interesting tracks: leopard, hyaena, and fresh cheetah tracks. This really showed us that we had been following cheetahs. They walked in some tall grass but with the help of the morning dew, we could clearly see where they were going.

As we joined the road to check for some clear tracks, our guest spotted them from a distance. I could not believe my eyes: there they were! There were five of them relaxed on a waterhole. Maybe they were waiting for an antelope to come and drink some water. A little later on kudus came to have a drink. Kudus are one of the extra careful antelopes because as the two kudus approached the waterhole, they were walking carefully by stopping to look and listern to try and reduce their chances of being surprisingly attacked. The cheetahs were spotted from a distance and the kudus then took a different route. We hope the cheetahs will stay in the Xaranna area.

Posted: Xaranna by Kelesedi Leswadula, Date: 1 March 2012