Cheetahs

Went looking for cheetahs on the second day in Serengeti, they are not always easy to find. Our driver got stuck in the mud trying to navigate a large kopti (rock formation) where cheetahs like to hide when it is wet. He spent three hours digging us out, while I watched through the binoculars to ensure nothing scary was about.

The good news is that, within 10 minutes of getting free, we saw five cheetahs. In an effort to get close to them quickly, I sacrificed several ribs to the rigors of the road, and almost flew out of the top of the jeep. But, in the end all was worth the effort. We saw a mother and two cubs on the savannah, and then two juvenile brothers walking down the road, where we were able to take photos of them for about fifteen minutes undisturbed. The best shots (of many) are here.

They are usually solitary animals, but we managed to catch two situations where you will actually see cheetahs together - either when they are raising young, as is the case above, or when they are at the 'teenager' stage and siblings are still together and fending for themselves without their mother, as is the case to the right and below.