Guide to Big Cat Safaris: Cheetahs

Cheetahs: Fast, sleek and spotted

Cheetahs are the flexible, high-speed cats of the African plains. For short durations, they can reach 70mph helped by their slim frame, long legs and long tail. These sleek, spotty supermodels of the savannah have distinctive tear stripes from the inner corner of their eye to their mouth – these markings, their frame, and the solid black spots (as opposed to the rosette on a leopard’s coat) clearly mark them out as cheetahs.

Females are usually alone unless they have cubs, but males often stay together in what is known as a coalition, often of siblings but not necessarily. They become a powerful hunting machine when they join forces in this way. Hunting by day, they rely on their sight to pick out prey, which is why you’ll frequently see them on termite mounds or low trees.

Our guide was obviously very well-respected, as rangers gave him/us special permission to get close to a cheetah mama with 3 new-borns which guide said were born either just minutes or a few hours prior to our arrival. Extraordinary.