Cheetah action in Etosha National Park, Namibia

By Roxanne Reid
It was our first morning at Halali camp in Namibia’s Etosha National Park, so we were up and ready for action as soon as the gate opened. Bingo! While the morning light was still soft, we found four cheetah in a flat-topped acacia tree at Salvadora waterhole on the edge of the pan.

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For nearly an hour they jostled for space in the fork of the tree. There was only really enough room for three but they all insisted on being there, climbing over or under each other, looking comically uncomfortable. Then two of them jumped down for a game of tag, their playfulness a certain indicator of youth in these almost fully-grown cubs. They chased each other in busy circles for a while before one of them took refuge in the ‘den’ of the tree. Rewind and repeat. Before long, all three cubs were chasing and tagging, none of them wanting to be left out of the fun. 

Then you’d blink and all four cheetahs were back in the tree again and one of the cubs would be having a go at catching another’s tail, either by swatting it with a paw or trying to bite it as it waved in front of his face.

Finally, after a lot of up and down and general early-morning rough and tumble, they all left the tree at a signal from mum and slowly melted into the yellow grass until only their heads were visible,  then their ears, then nothing.

More about Etosha

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