AW's Cheetah Family - Corinne & Cubs.......

[Bushveld Jock]

Wonderful sighting of Corinne and family and superb photos. Very lucky to spot them so often between all the lions.

Next time we will take you along as a guide to find those cats.

[Toko]

They look all like cheetah to me


Great

[Mel]

Now I consider myself really lucky! 4 weeks until you found them... phew! Glad you did though and a splendid sighting on top of it.

I remember March, when - at least to my perception - EVERYONE had got to see Corinne and the cubs... minus myself.
And I had really thought that it can't be that difficult to find 5 cheetahs together.

Like you I was really pleased to have seen them together in October. Even though it was really hot when we were with them and thus
they were mostly flat out.

[ExFmem]

Yes, during the AM of the 28th (day after the above sighting ), they were cheetah pancakes - I have virtually the exact shot as you, but in the afternoon they started moving a bit, so will post that next, tho' not much to show as they were simply walking, and moving farther and farther away.

The next morning, however, they provided us with VERY close shots, wonderful communication between the 4 cubs, chirping nonstop right beside our car window, and an observation that the cubs were taking the lead on finding prey, no longer relying on Mom. We were really left with great hope for the success of these 4 siblings. Corinne has been a fantastic nurturing provider.

[Mel]

Corinne definitely did much better than her sister... not only did she have another two mouths to feed but instinctively she also kept her bunch with her much longer and therefore heightened their chances of survival. Hope Casper and Chase will make a great team and will be successful together for a long time being. As for the girls... they must just copy their mum and grandmother.

The last recorded sighting of them as a family that I have is from mid November. By then they had come up from the Samevloeeing / Leeuwdril area all the way to Dalkeith. I'm pretty sure the "eviction" is close, if it hasn't already happened in the meantime.

I don't think I'll manage to post any pictures over the next days though. Apologies... But it is the time of the year

[Flutterby]

Lovely idea ExFmem, and great pics!

[ExFmem]

Okay, the next day, 10/28 AM, we saw them 4 kms north of Samevloeing (see Mel's "flat cheetahs" pic), then saw them again in the same area in the afternoon lying right by the road. They quickly got up and moved off, so the sighting was brief. I just tried to get a pic of each of them for later ID.



They moved further and further away, eventually heading over the dunes.

[ExFmem]

10/29 6:23AM approx. 1.3 kms north of Samevloeing waterhole, west side of road atop the dune



They walked along the roadside, searching for prey it seemed, as they were all very focused and in constant contact with one another.




Casper
Their "chirps" to each of their siblings and mom was nonstop and so delightful to hear, as some were on the road verge right by the cars.


Carina





It was very inspiring to see the kids taking the initiative to find food, not waiting on signals from mom. They definitely spotted something at one point, crossed the road right behind our car, and began stalking behavior.

Unfortunately that "sighting" didn't pan out for them, and they were moving too far away for pics when we left.


Cora Casper Corinne

[nan]

what a beauty group
for posting.... wow

[Flutterby]

They are so beautiful!