While lions are the undisputed kings among Africa's predators, for many years we've followed the Cheetahs in our special Mara location where the presence of fewer people gives them the freedom of space to hunt during the daytime.
In the season of the Great Migration, constant river crossings provide exceptional predator action from the crocodiles and lions shadowing the herds. In the dry season, clear morning skies with stunning sunrises offer a beautiful start to the first game drive of the day.
Cheetah are the most specialized of Africa’s Big Cats. The fastest animal on earth, they run at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. The cubs follow Cheetah moms from the age of six weeks. In the Serengeti plains, up to 95% of cubs fail to reach maturity due the threat of lions, hyena and, the result of too many of crowds. Here in the Mara, with our special off-the-grid conservancies we're seeing more productive sightings of these unique cats.
The cheetah cubs leave their mothers at about a year or two, and the brothers form a band for extremely organized hunting. These cats require vast savannah grasslands and daylight to hunt, a perfect habitat offered by the Mara ecosystem well-suited to Cheetah, which is what makes them harder to source in the thicker woodlands and constricted spaces of South Africa and Botswana.