SANParks.org Forums

Hi Freda
Call it operation cheetah

(same area different day)
Unfortunately we will be in Satara from 30 Sept(See Y R in Kruger)
This will need 2 trip reports
Sundowners will have to be on absent friends
OldOwl

My cheetah with four cubs (finally) who tried to hunt impala but they spotted her.










BEAUTIFUL, isn't she...

These beauties were spotted on the H7 to Orpen Gate.

Does this perhaps prove the point

For what it's worth, I think that although cheetahs can be found anywhere in Kruger (Those 7 at Pafuri blew my mind!),
there are certain areas where your chances are better:

No1) Pretoriuskop - Afsaal - Napi triangle

No2) Lower Sabie - Croc Bridge - Mlondozi triangle

No3) Satara - Orpen - Bangu triangle (quite a big triangle!)

These are my personal experiences, so anyone is welcome to differ.

Hi all,

I've had the privilege to see cheetah 4 times, 1st and 2nd time 1, 3rd time 3 and 4th time 5. (which I tought is great, but after reading this forum I have to go on a cheetah hunt Im afraid )

These 3 we saw at transport dam july 2006, distance reduced from 150 meters to 4 meters, which was so close my dad forgot to zoom out...







Guess what, in dec 2006 the lens focused on some "dirty stuff" on the lens, so almost all my photo's of the 5 are screwed!!




(can only see 4 of 5 the as they were spread out)

So im going for my 7!!

Monné

Cheetah are funny, in my personal experience.

Their hunting behaviour depends on far more factors than for lion, leopard, hyena and wild dog. I think this is because they have a very high success ratio once their charge has begun, obviously because of the speed.

On the other hand, they can basically only kill with their mouths, not limbs, so have a set of targets that they normally go for, such as gazelle and small antelope, or the young of larger antelope. (By the way, there was a rangers report of a cheetah attacking a roan antelope calf near Stolsnek - Pretoriuskop in the 80's... what a rare sighting).

So they have to be careful not to risk ANY injury, as compared to the other predators. That is why they give way to hyenas, or even vultures, once they have killed.

However, when there is a prey scarcity, they are forced to go for anything available, including adult antelope.

I feel sorry for them, sometimes, as though they were Ferraris in a town full of trucks...

Perfectly fine pics, Mgoddard!

Cheetah seem to enjoy climbing trees in the Pretoriuskop area. (With the dense grass, who can blame them!)

Reminds me of a trip in 1987 to PK when cheetah were all over the place! (I've mentioned it before.)

We saw one badly mangy one at Skipberg on the first afternoon, then a loner in the tar road to Skukuza the following morning.

Having used up an hour and most of a roll of film with this one, we turned off onto the Napi Loop and immediately found a couple more in the road. While we used another hour and the rest of the film, (we were all alone, it being December)
both climbed into one of the Marula trees overhanging the road.

One actually urinated through the open car window from above, accidentally (I hope), leaving me with a bit of cheetah on myself.

Eventually we left them, and re-emerged onto the tar road, only to spot yet another cheetah about 30m away in a burnt area.

We hooted and drove off, having had enough for one day. I still remember thinking the last cheetah had quite a shocked expression, with tourists ignoring it! (Obviously not)

This trio were filmed on the Skukuza - Berg En Dal tar road:



Elad.

Not sure about 10 but we very definitely saw a group of 4 a few kms in from Numbi Gate at the beginning of this month.
Apparantly had an Impala kill there, which we couldn't see and they seemed to stay in that area for a good few days judging by the sighting boards at the various camps.
I found that strange in itself as Cheetah don't normally hang around too long due to pressure from other predators.

Yes, I agree with what has already been said here.

I wouldn't rule it out completely, but it would be a serious sighting if someone did see 10 cheetah in one place unless they were all chained down (which would be bad of course!)

In general, female cheetah are loners, and generally don't hang around together. The biggest group that I have seen is 7, which was a mother and 6 cubs. But once they are fully weaned they split up and form their own territories.

The males form coalitions which are generally males from the same litter (they don't have to be from the same litter, but this is rare), so assuming the mother had 6 male cubs which is already pushing it since 6 is a lot of cubs to survive to adulthood, and all male? Let's assume that this did happen, they'd still have to find another 4 cheetah along the way to make a male coalition of 10.

Cheetah are not social cats like lions and don't form prides, so I would have to say that it was unlikely.

But you never know with nature!

Cheers
Craig

Okies here we go for a first attempt at posting one of my piccies. I went the Irfanview route, first time I ever used it, so I hope it shows ok

Mike

In the late eighties I saw 6 cheetah at the Nhlanganzwani dam (just off the S28). they were then chased off into the bush by the arrival of 2 lions. the pictures i have are on slide.The picture below is of 2 brothers taken at the corner of the S90 and S89 and were checking out a herd of impala. The ensuing chase was in vain as the impala spotted them in time.

These Cheetah seen on the near the Southern end of the S28, on May 31st this year.
They were a group of 4 but I could never get all 4 together.

Seen 4 kms from Punda Maria as we were on our way to the Punda gate (see sign below cheetah for exact position ). This cheetah is looking at a nearby herd of impala and jumped off and immediately went into stalking mode. Didn't see anything happen though because the cheetah disappeared into the bush and we had to get going