The cheetah gets a consolation prize.

The Kgalagadi, surprisingly enough actually hosts a fair number of animals. Its neighbor the Namib even has elephants, but here its springbok and Gemsbok or Oryx as they are known with a smattering of Wildebeest and steenbok. The latter being in a small number. So when we see this cheetah walking along the Nossob river bed evidently looking for something from her attitude we followed. She came over the crest of a small dune and froze as her head cleared the top. Springbok!! Yes they were about 800 m away and there was absolutely no cover between her and them but she had found them. She crouched down and took about 5 minutes to cover 3 meters and lay down in the shadow of a bush, making her body flat as possible and still keep an eye on the springbok feeding blissfully unaware down the riverbed.

We settled in for a long wait. Patience is the hunters virtue, just sit and watch for hours if need be and strike in a flash when the time comes. Well the flash came long before we expected it. An oryx came strolling along and he had not seen the cheetah either, suddenly he found himself 10 meters from the cat and with a startled leap he watched her as he walked away. An oryx outweighs a cheetah 5 or 6 times and has nothing to fear from that cat.

The upshot though was that she moved her position slightly and now was able to see around the bush to the left, while before the bush obstructed her vision. Time dragged on, and frankly I was getting ready to call it off and move. In less time than it takes to read it, her head came up, she stood up and in less than a second she was running full tilt for my window. The camera could take 3 shots before she covered the 80 meters to the car went around and killed a juvenile ostrich under my window.

We had not even seen the ostrich come across the plain to our left, unaware of the cheetah. Her elevated position gave her the advantage and she pressed it all the way. Dragging the bird she headed for the shade of a camelthorn and proceeded to eat. A jackal trolling along noticed and sat down out of immediate danger for his long wait for a meal. Life and death in the Kgalagadi is just one wrong move.

One angry female cheetah!

One afternoon in the Kgalagadi driving down the Nossob road just past Grootbardskolk we saw a cheetah approaching the road from the west. Barely 50 yards ahead of us she kept looking back and walked rather angrily it seemed. When we came up to her, I got a couple of photos and sure, she was obviously pretty upset. We watched her for a while and then drove on slowly past the dune she had just come over and found the reason she was so mad.

A huge brown hyena and a few jackals were on a kill and it was clear what had happened. A brown hyena outweighs a cheetah and cheetahs cant afford to sustain any injury because they have to be at peak physical condition to hunt. A small injury which takes 10% off their peak could be a fatal injury and death due to starvation of injured cheetahs is not uncommon.

So this female just relinquished the kill and came away furious, while the usurpers shared the bounty of her hard work. We watched the thieves enjoy themselves thoroughly and I was actually surprised the brown hyena let the jackals in so close cuz as you can see he is more than double their size. Stealing from cheetahs is nothing new. It happens all too often in the bush and its just the way things work. COME ON SAFARI WITh US AND HAVE YOUR OWN AMAZING STORIES TO TELL - www.dreadlionsafaris.com

The lappets aren’t here and we can’t get in!

Explore African wildlife and check out the vultures. South Africa has a number of vulture species and tragically many are endangered or close to being so. The Cape Vulture is one such and saw a massive decline not long ago. The numbers are coming back up slowly and yet there is a long way to go before we can breathe easy on their account.

Vultures have the best network in the animal kingdom. There was a notable case where a vulture tagged in the morning at Pilanesberg National Park was found late afternoon on a carcass in the Kruger park. A distance of 500km and more. How did he show up? Let me tell you these guys are Exploring Africa by air. They use rising air currents called thermals and soar to great heights without flapping a wing. 

Each vulture keeps track of the ground underneath for feeding opportunities and also keeps track of his buddies up to 10-15 km around him. So each individual has a radius of about 10-15 km around him or her. So when one drops down to a carcass soon the neighbours realize that he has moved and as one moves downwards the neighbours start and …. You guessed it, their neighbours and so on and on and on till out of a clear sky you have up to 100 vultures in a matter of a few hours sitting around on or near a carcass waiting for the lions to finish so they can dig in. With cheetah kills they bully the cheetah off and many cheetah kills are lost to vultures and of course the ubiquitous hyena.

There is a catch though. Most vultures can’t really get into a carcass if there was no major predator feeding on it first. So a giraffe for example (in the pic) that died of natural causes would have to be opened up before any can feed. The big shot who can actually do that is the Lappet faced vulture with its huge strong beak and powerful body. Once it has been opened then it’s a free for all.

The carcass as you can see in the picture has hardly been opened at all. Giraffe skin is pretty tough and even 24 hours after the giraffe died it has still not been exploited. Maybe the lappet’s are off on a jamboree cuz they ain’t showed up yet, and the Cape vultures and their hooded vulture pals are just hanging around waiting for a meal to be served.

This video of the buffalo that was killed by lions shows how completely they can clean a carcass to the bone. Cape and hooded vultures are very efficient scavengers when the carcass is opened up.

As we explore the cause of things, Africa becomes more and more exciting and amazing and thrilling. Explore Africa and discover something every day.