The Call

After being on safari for only 4 days we had seen all of the big five except, for leopard, in addition to hippos, snakes, eagles, vultures and more. We'd even been so lucky to have seen either lone lions or larger packs of lions all four days in a row so I were pretty much maxed out on sights and could probably have gone home and been content.

Then, driving through Kruger, we came upon a male cheetah lying on top pf a termite mound. At first he was down in the grass and just looking around, but after a little while he sat up and started to make this calling-sound. For about 20 minutes he was alternating between listening and calling out until this second cheetah jumped out on the road about half a kilometre further down. The second cheetah trotted down towards us in a leisure tempo and then met up with the first one. They cuddled for a bit, then marked the area before they left.

This were probably two brothers since they tend to stay together for a good while after their mother has left them. Since we weren't supposed to see cheetas at all during this trip we were pretty extatic as well as emotionally drained afterwards. A truly amazing experience

Kruger National Park, South Africa