We hit the road at first light, bush boxes in hand, for the 45 minute drive out to the swamp. There was a lot of anticipation; we knew there were leopards and plenty of prey in the area, and had heard reports from our campmates of both lions and fresh kills as well. Once we got to the swamp, we started working our way north looking for both some action and a place to eat our breakfasts.
The payoff soon came in the form of a cheetah on the hunt...
At this point, I want you to start imagining the National Geographic theme playing in the background. You know the one...
da da da DA...da
da da da DA da da...da da... da, dum dum
What was about to happen before us was so fascinating that we didn't even get many pictures; it unfolded so quickly and was so gripping that all we could do was watch in fascination the events less than 100 meters away. You would have needed a video camera to capture the action.
It was pretty clear from the cheetah's behavior that it had it's sights on something. We couldn't identify its target, however - whatever it was was laying in the tall grass at the edge of the swamp. Suddenly the cheetah charged and, at the same time a male reedbuck exploded from the grass.
(This is a picture of a reedbuck taken at a different time. Click on the picture to enlarge and get a better look at the reedbuck's relatively small but nasty headgear)
The cheetah quickly caught up to and tripped up the reedbuck. A brief struggle ensued, but the cheetah couldn't get a good grip. This let the reedbuck get up and start running again. The cheetah, of course, gave chase and again wound up on top of the reedbuck. To no avail, however, as the reedbuck was able to escape for a second time. This time, however, the reedbuck and cheetah wound up head-to-head. Suddenly, the cheetah was not so confident. Reedbuck are a medium-sized. aggressive antelope with razor sharp, forward pointing antlers well designed for self defense. The cheetah was now facing an opponent that could maim or kill it, and was clearly giving the whole enterprise a second thought. Soon, though, the reedbuck bolted again. The cheetah, not yet exhausted and hardwired to chase, followed and soon was sitting on the reedbuck again - this time with an apparent good grip in the reedbuck's neck. Game over.
Well, not quite. The cheetah had not counted on the reedbuck having help.
Large and angry help.
The cheetah had made a critical error, carrying out the hunt a scant fifty meters from a small family group of elephants. A cheetah would be ignored by an adult elephant, but it could certainly be a threat a baby and the adults are suitably cautious. This group had a couple of tiny members, and the matriarch was visibly agitated by the cheetah's actions. Suddenly, this large female charged the cheetah on it's prey, trumpeting with trunk held high, and making quite a commotion. The cheetah, not wanting to end up the guest of honor at a vulture party, decided to retire from the field, at which point the reedbuck popped up and made good its escape in the opposite direction.
The cheetah scouted the area for a few minutes, apparently trying to get another fix on the reedbuck, which had run off then hunkered down in the grass again. With no luck, and seemingly tired and dispirited, the big cat walked slowly up the hill towards us, passing the car at a distance of about 20 meters, and proceeded over the ridge and out of sight. The entire hunt from first sprint to abandonment took about a minute. The amount of life-and-death drama involved, however, was amazing. This was without question one of the highlights of the entire trip.
da da da DA...da
da da da DA da da...da da... da, dum dum
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