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Toddelelfe, thanks for this comment - it got me thinking!

While I was in the Park last year I was lucky enough to meet Graham Kearney, the artist. He was there taking reference shots for his work and we got chatting. After I took the photos of the Cheetah and her 6 cubs I sent them to Graham and one thing led to another. Eventually I commissioned him to paint 'my' Cheetah and this is the result!

She hangs in pride of place in my home in England and I think of my other spiritual home in South Africa every time I see her.

I know this might be a bit 'off topic' but I thought I'd share my good fortune with you all.

Yes lions will kill cheetahs and their cubs. It is stated that the purpose is to remove any competition for food. I'm sure if they got the chance cheetahs would kill lion cubs. In fact this is quite common among most predators.

Great pics, all!

A couple of my best attempted scans!

A single cheetah on the tar road about 300m from Satara webcam, ironically, 5 years ago.

The six cubs weren't all visible together in any of my photo's except one where you could just see the tip of it's little nose.

You can just see it in one of my photos earlier in this thread.

In any case Graham missed the fact that there were 6 and I couldn't send him off to do it again!

I'm not sure people would believe it from a painting anyway - 6 are so unlikely!!

Here you go - proof! I found the photo with the 6th cub. You can just see its face under mum's belly.

I did not doubt it for one moment Tony, I just saw 5. The tragedy is that there is such a small chance of them all making it to adulthood.
I always enjoy seeing cheetah. A group of mum plus 3 adult children was my last good sighting in Kruger.

This one just south of the rhino camp on the Voortrekkerpad in 1990.




Pretoriuskop is REALLY the best spot for cheetah!

I saw these 3 beuties on the way from Mpondo dam back to the H-3, we were on our way back to the H-3 that is, they didn't say where they were going or I would have followed.

Cheetah Locale Turns Up the Goods Again

My folks have just spent a week in KNP, traveling from Tambotie via Satara, to the south.

And the S130/137 intersection delivered again. This is on the way to Duke, from the main CB / LS road.

We saw the three 'brothers' (well, I surmise they are) in the same spot some years ago, and my folks did too. They came around a corner, and the lads were crouching in the road. Ol' man fired off a pic through the windscreen, and then all hell broke loose. Cheetahs running all over the show, dust thrown up, and impala scattering everywhere, into the bush, back across the road, chaos. But no kill.

So there's a hot Perks tip for you. Will check it out again in September!

King Cheetah Query

Been meaning to ask this for months...

Is there such a thing as a king cheetah, presumably a sub-species, or is this solely a genetic aberration, found only in captivity?

Reason I ask is many years ago (10 maybe?), I woke up one morning early, shot out for a drive, took the S128 gravel from LS side towards the Saletjie Road, and being quite dark, and the only pair of eyes in the car, and mostly looking out of the driver's window, nearly flattened* a cheetah. Except he was extremely dark on the back, half the reason I never saw him lying in the road. To this day I ask myself if this was a king, or simply a very old garden variety cheetah?

* I say 'nearly flattened', meaning I got to within ten or fifteen metres before s/he got up in the interest of self-preservation. And I was doing the routine Perks doddle, i.e. very slow speed.

A genetic aberration not a sub-species. The initial sightings were of wild King Cheetah, which were later bred in captivity from two normal Cheetah. But it was so long ago that I cannot recall where the sightings took place.

perks and mtv,

The last "king" in the Park was regularly seen around Tshokwane in the '80's.

A few suspect reports before that.

This does, however, mean that the genes are present in Kruger.

Two brothers a few km from Numbi gate next to the tar.
August 2007

the "2 brothers" on the S3 2km from the Doispane road
8 September 2007

Hi Everybody

For those of you traveling on the S1 and then right on the S65 should be on the outlook for 7 cheetahs as they stay in the area.

I was told by safari operators that these cheetahs stay in the area and that they are 6 cubs(now fully grown) and there mother which hunts together on a daily basis.I HAVE BEEN LUCKY to see them in march 2007 on the S65 and what a sighting it was!

I saw the seven last August between Numbi and Skukuza. It was such a thrilling sighting.
I am pleased to hear that they are all doing so well. One of the rangers was telling me on that trip that no one expected so many cubs to survive. However, the mother proved to be a magnificent hunter and could take care of them all.