To coin a famous line, it was the best of times it was the worst of times, actually it has been a great couple of days. I have had a tour group of travel agents visit our lodge for two nights, a great bunch of Australians, and from now on ,travel agents in a herd or bunch will be referred to as a

 ”tour” of travel agents.

We had great game sightings, only missing the leopard of the big stuff to see. But most others we did manage to get a close look at, including a fantastic cheetah sighting, I am lucky in that were I conduct my game drive’s ,there is a resident coalition of four cheetah brothers we see fairly often.

Four full grown adult, in there prime, lean and mean cheetah that have slowly become habituated to the vehicles. One can not drive over there tail so to speak, but can get about six meters from them with out them spooking and galloping off.

Cheetahs are sleek, sexy and beautiful. Built like a Ferrari, built for speed. Reaching speeds of a 100km to 110km, depending on the individual. However there is a drawback, they are over-specialized for speed and so are defenseless against larger predators like lion, leopard and hyena. Even vultures can push a cheetah off a kill. That is not saying much for a predator of this size.

Back at camp all is as is, not too much to report. Other than the amount of rain that has fallen in the last few weeks. The grass is summer green, and no we are not in summer. The bush around is lush and bursting, trees and grass competing for space. And with all this foliage around, not so easy to see far ahead, this is what happened the other night, my girlfriend who from know will be referred to as “the beautiful distraction” was front side of the lodge waiting for I to return from drive, when past saunters a LEOPARD. 

Now this is at night, alone and on foot, a few meters away is a big leopard tom (male). Funny thing is instead of panic or retreat back to safety of a building, the beautiful distraction got exited and wanted to follow it down the pathway, see where it goes. Lucky good sense prevailed.

At the end of it all, I have a few more good drives, good memories of genuine and interesting people and a nasal cold. Thanks to all that moist rain and all. Everybody has checked out and I am going to grab a few beers, sit back and nurse my cold. Wait for the next tour to come in.

Cheetah brothers