The fastest land mammal in the world, is a slender, agile predator of the African plains. Cheetahs live alone, and in some cases they create a coalition to hunt bigger preys.
In the Maasai Mara the words "cheetah coalition" are different; 5 adult cats decided to get together to hunt the biggest preys ever hunt by their species.
Two set of brothers and one single Cheetah created this groups of animals that started hunting preys as big as Wildebeest and zebras, something way bigger than what usually is on their menu. Another great fact that makes this group stronger is the power to defend their kills from Hyenas, and the Maasai Mara is full of them.
They became quickly very famous, the locals call the the 5 brothers, but there are many names worldwide for them like the 5 musketeers, the fast five....
I followed them with Njapit, Maasai Guide, for a few days. We went back to their territory to check if they had made a kill or if they were keen to hunt. Usually I saw them "chilling" in the bushes, and it's pretty difficult to spot them in these conditions, but finally one day they were on the move. I must admit that to see a cheetah is incredibly impressive, but to see 5 of them moving through the savanna is crazy...
So me and Njapit were all exited and kept following them from distance, actually we where trying to be on the other end of the hunt, so we always where not in their hunt path...but the boys were not interested in hunting, even though we heard from the other guides that they have not had any kills in the last 2 days.
we finally found out what they were looking for.......water.
I was so exited of seeing them move all together that I was not ready when all 5 of them one after another started jumping over the small water hole.
this is the only shot I got from the whole cheetahs jumping show...I'm sorry
What makes this encounter even more special for me is not because they are famous, and actually pretty easy to find if you hire a local guide (they know their territory all year long)...but it's the fact that there are to date an estimated 6'674 mature individuals IN THE WHOLE WORLD.
Here a small clip of a cheetah kill I was lucky enough to witness during my trip...this was a Mom with 2 cubs! The clip is very shaky I know but try to film a big cat that runs at over 110km/h ;)
Stay Hungry stay Wildish!!
Comments