This is the first time I've posted a photo of an animal that isn't truly wild but this was a very special experience for us. We stayed at the Elephant Camp for two nights last July while we were at Victoria Falls and one special treat was the chance to go on bush walks with their orphaned cheetah. He was rescued as a days old cub after lions had killed his siblings and run his mother off and now lives on the property. Guests are allowed to accompany him on his twice daily rounds where he's let off leash and pretty much goes where he pleases for a couple of hours with his handler and the guests trying gamely to keep up.
The reserve has a good population of general game as well as hyena, a few wild cheetah, jackals and other predators so you never know what's going to happen on a walk. We got to see him stalk then chase (but not catch) a wildebeest, investigate some buffalo (he elected to steer clear) and watch (as well as hear) how a troop of baboons reacted to his presence. He also followed some serval tracks for quite a while. A side benefit is the chance to get a different, up close perspective with a cheetah in his natural surroundings such as walking next to him the entire time he was stalking the wildebeest. Shortly after this photo was taken he dashed off after something none of us could see and we didn't find him again until an hour later; lounging back at camp in the morning sun.
Thanks for looking and as always, C&C is very much appreciated.
Canon EOS 6D
Canon 100-400L @ 220
ISO640, F7, 1/1,600 sec
Comments
3 commentsThis is a great image of a beautiful cat.
Zimbabwe has many of these "adventures" using captive animals, I could go on for hours about my feelings for this, most particularly the Lion Farm operated by ALERT, but I will not do so here.
Ken - Most of what I've read about the Lion walk operations has been negative and in some cases simply horrific, especially the outfits that sell the animals to canned hunting operations once they get too big to handle. This is why we'll never participate in one of those adventures. This case was definitely a bit unique because this particular cheetah was rescued from certain death as a days old cub. He's never learned to hunt properly as we witnessed first hand on our walk. He has the instincts and certainly the speed but not the technique so would likely starve. We watched him launch his chase much too far from the wildebeest so he simply ran out of steam as the perplexed wildebeest sauntered off to safety. After witnessing his living arrangements, I can say they are better than any zoo could ever provide and his care givers as well as guests at the lodge positively dote over him. We were happy to pay the very modest ($50) fee for the walk as it goes to help keep him very well fed.