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Day 3 started with tracking lions and following their roar. The guides thought 2 males were fighting over mating rights. But as we got close we got distracted. We found 2 cheetahs, new to the area. I love cheetahs so the choice was made. We followed. All day! There were great shots of stretching, looking, walking and of course time spent resting. But the cheetahs were obviously in need of a meal. The other vehicles had long since departed when after 6 hours they saw a prey and started to stalk. There was lots of brush and we were well back. We didn't want to move our vehicle as that might disturb the hunt. We waited until the chase started. We picked a spot and hoped. We came to a clearing and were rewarded. The hunt had turned back towards us. The lead cheetah had knocked the impala down but couldn't hold it as the impala got up to make last attempt to break away. The second cheetah then pounced for the final take down. It was over fast. The entire take down took less than 1 second. I was ready with camera in hand and the right settings and I fired at high speed. I got the best (by far) action shot of my life. Image #4 is the 3rd frame of the sequence. I will post frame #1 in a later post, the best of the lot.
After the kill the cheetahs took another 4 hours to get enough energy to eat. So it was a long day! My wife is a saint to be out the entire day with me and I have to thank her for her patience, as well as our skilled driver.
Cheetah streching.
The cute side!
They love termite mounds
The take down. Not cute!
The reward; demon eyes.
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