9th September Mpila Imfolozi to Home
We were up the next morning at 1st light and I drank my coffee outside while checking the spoor in the mud/sandy areas around our unit. I was surprised at the quantity of tracks and an element of regret set in because we had wobbled off to bed the previous evening instead of continuing with our “stakeout”.
The howling cold wind was still blowing, rain had been forecast for the entire day and we had to get home as there were plenty things to sort out before work/etc, but as it was a Monday morning, we only wanted to be on the freeway home after 8am to avoid the morning rush hour traffic, so we decided to pack the car and do the short drive down to viewpoint 17 again, before turning to leave the park.
We drove out of camp just after 6am and I was amazed that most of the people in the camp were still sleeping, which may have been due to the weather conditions, but we were the only car heading off towards the dirt road west of camp.
It was initially very quiet and even general game seemed to be missing, however the Cow found a Tawny that interested her a few km into the drive.
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A few km further, just after the Sontuli loop road split at the Gqoyeni river bridge, we found some impala and they seemed very nervous and they were all looking up the road and around the corner.
“Those impalas seem edgy”
I slowly went around the corner and instantly hit an adrenaline overcharge.
“CHEETAHS! QUICK CAMERA!”
A mother cheetah and 4 cubs were walking down the middle of the road towards us and the impala.
I was now squealing at the Cow.
“#^&@ Take pictures!”
“The camera has an issue! I can’t use this thing! I will use my camera!”
“It’s too dark for your camera! Nothing will come out! You have to use mine!”
Eventually the Cow got 1 shot off in auto mode as the cheetahs left the road, but the mother and 1 cub had already moved into the bush next to the road.
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The Cow and I then entered into a mini scrap because we could have gotten pics of the entire cheetah family walking towards us.
“Your camera is stuffed!”
“It’s the user!”
“Take your own #^&@*$ camera then!”
“I was driving! I can’t do both at the same time!”
I then figured out that it was my fault as the camera settings were all over the place because I had been stuffing around the previous evening to try and get night-time scenic shots, but had forgotten to change all the settings back, however I kept quiet about it at the time.
Suddenly the mother cheetah burst from the bush at a massive pace and went past us like a bullet.
“$%&*^& she’s after the impala!”
I turned the car instantly sideways and again squealed at the Cow
“SNAP PICS!”
I had now set the camera to AV mode with a slow shutter speed due to the dark conditions and it should have been in shutter priority mode, so the Cow ended up with pics that were totally blurred, but in the pics below you can at least make out the mother cheetah’s tail on the right and the impala scattering.
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We had now lost sight of all the cheetah and impala, so I slowly cruised down the road with the hope of finding them again.
“There’s movement to the left up ahead”
I slowly inched forward and the mother and cubs came into view. She had obviously missed the impala and was now resting in the grass close to the road with her cubs.
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In any case I don't want to know, it is perfect as it is
Something drastic has to be done!
Fortunately, Albert and the Cow's plan worked out 
