Frost, Fires & Family Time

[Alf]

Wow how lucky can one get

[Pumbaa]

Cheetahs as well, PJL

What a fabulous day

[Mel]

Say what?! Not only the lions (which after having seen the rest are sooo yesteryear )
but also a splendid aardwolf sighting AND cheetahs too? Geez, we had to do the tracking and didn't get any further than
about 200 metres to one. Needless to say I'm totally

Excellent stuff!!!

(No Addo next time, we'll be in Kruger instead because we're going with friends of ours who visit SA for the first time and
even if I'm not fond of Kruger I'll have to admit that it's the better Option for a first time Safari experience...)

[PJL]

First there was one.......and then there were four They do not look old enough to be left alone by the mother

We figured that the mom was off hunting somewhere - she would leave them even from little when hunting. As you'll see in the next pics, they started calling for her... perhaps they're just not quite old enough yet to join her on hunts.

Wow how lucky can one get

We were very lucky indeed Alf

Cheetahs as well, PJL

What a fabulous day

It was a brilliant start to our stay for sure Pumbaa

Say what?! Not only the lions (which after having seen the rest are sooo yesteryear )
but also a splendid aardwolf sighting AND cheetahs too? Geez, we had to do the tracking and didn't get any further than
about 200 metres to one. Needless to say I'm totally

Excellent stuff!!!

Thanks Mel
We knew only too well how difficult the cheetah can be to find, so seeing these 4 on the first day totally bowled us over

[PJL]

As the cheetah started to get up and move they were clearly calling for mom - presumably she was off hunting somewhere nearby but we never saw her. Here's a short video of the youngsters calling

https://youtu.be/d_oL0lgd3BI

We spent the next 45 minutes admiring these beautiful cats and as the sun started sinking lower on the horizon they were painted in some incredible colours. Words don't really do justice to the sighting... instead I'm simply going to post rather a lot of photos and hopefully you'll get something of the experience

[PJL]

The 4 siblings then crossed the road and were lit up by the setting sun







With the landscape turning pink and purple, this was probably my favourite photo as the light started to fade



In a matter of minutes the light was gone and we needed to return to the camp so we said goodbye to the cheetah and hoped that they would find their mom quickly



We stopped very briefly at the lions who were now all up and about (including the girls who we hadn't seen before), busy feeding again on the eland



As we drove down to camp we were totally amazed by our first day in the park. We were even treated to seeing a couple of duiker just near the camp gate, but it was so dark I didn't even try to take any photos.
With our fire lit we stayed nice and warm, whilst making plans for which areas of the park to explore on the next day

TBC

[Lisbeth]

The kitties are gorgeous and there are some really great pics

Lucky fish

[Alf]

Those cheetahs looks so puffy and adorable

[Richprins]

Once again...forum flooded with exquisite pics...really good competition, Peej!

Like a dream watching this, to be honest!

[Dewi]

Amazing cheetah pics in glorious light PJL.

Love the video with the chirruping calls.