Cheetahs on a Hunt

One of the most exhilarating moments of my life was when I got to witness the worlds fastest animal in action. These events took place at the Masai Mara in Kenya. We have always heard about cheetahs, seen them in documentaries and read about them. However, one can only begin to appreciate the speed at which these animals hunt when one sees them in action with their own eyes.

Cheetahs have a life span of 10 to 12 years, measure 3.65 to 4.5 feet from head to tail and weigh around 21 to 72 kg. Cheetahs are generally of two types, the desert cheetah and the king cheetah. King Cheetahs are mostly found only in the south-east parts of Africa. The desert cheetahs tend to be paler with smaller spots as compared to its counterpart, while the king cheetah’s spots appear to merge and form stripes on its back. The Cheetah can achieve a maximum speed of 100 km/hr, however, it can only do so for 10 to 20 seconds after which its body begins to overheat and it is forced to slow down. Hence if its prey manages to stay out of the cheetahs clutches for this small duration, it is most likely to escape.

It was our second safari into the Masai Mara and it had already been pretty eventful. We had already spent a considerable amount of time with a pair of lions and had only moved on from the spot a few minutes ago. The driver had stopped the vehicle and I was busy photographing a herd of giraffes when the radio on the dashboard started buzzing. The driver picked up the mic and started talking into it in Swahili (the local language in Kenya). The more he spoke the more excited he got. Starting up the vehicle, he told us that some cheetahs had been spotted nearby. I was excited. I had never seen or photographed a cheetah before. We raced along to the spot and sure enough, spotted a cheetah. He was sitting on his haunches, calmly in the shade of a nearby tree. He was sitting with his back to us and gazing away into the horizon.

At first, we could see just the one cheetah, however, we soon spotted two others sleeping under the same tree on the other side. They seemed very calm and relaxed. I spent some 10 minutes clicking away as they rolled about under the tree. Then one of the cheetahs got up and started moving in the opposite direction beyond the tree and away from us. It walked a few paces out of the shade, into the sunlight and sat down again. Why did he just leave the cool shade and move into the scorching sun? He got up again, walked a few paces and crouched close to the ground. Something was afoot. Beyond the cheetah a little distance away there was some shrubbery, beyond which there was a herd of wildebeest grazing away, oblivious of the hunter that was watching them. The other two cheetahs who were still under the tree now rose and joined their brother as he stalked the wildebeests. Slowly but steadily they moved closer to the bush. All three of them stopped again, crouched low and waited. They were now very close to the bush. The wildebeest were still unaware of the cheetahs. Then suddenly the cheetahs were off in a flash, they broke free of the bushes and charged the herd. It was not a random charge, the victim had already been decided and its fate was sealed. Within a few bounds and in just a matter of seconds one of the cheetahs with a perfectly executed jump got his jaws around the wildebeest's neck and brought it crashing to the ground.

It all happened so fast that I could not get a single photograph of the hunting action. I doubt the wildebeest even saw its assailant until it jumped up at him. The rest of the herd had bolted and all that remained was the three cheetahs and their prey. The wildebeest was still alive but was completely paralysed. Cheetahs usually kill their prey by getting a death grip around its neck and suffocating it to death. As life ebbed away from the poor wildebeest, the other two cheetahs scanned the surroundings for potential threats. Hyenas are known to be a nuisance for cheetahs and are also known to drive them off their prey. Making sure the coast was clear the cheetahs started to drag their prize away from the open grasses and into some nearby bushes where they could enjoy their meal away from scavengers and the tourists who had just witnessed the blistering pace of the fastest animal on Earth.

Not all cheetah hunts are this successful. Cheetahs generally hunt gazelles which are extremely fast and nimble as compared to the larger in size wildebeest. Hence a lot of the hunts fail. But I guess it was a very lucky day for the three cheetahs and an extremely unlucky one for the wildebeest. These things may seem very extraordinary to us, however, this is the circle of life in the Masai Mara.

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A Cheetah in all its glory`