The next morning I decided to drive to Union's End, but unfortunately when I arrived I found that the waterhole was dry, so headed back south to Kannaugas waterhole. Nothing special there as well, so decided to head back north to the Union's End picnic site where I could get out of the car and photograph some insects - always my go-to backup plan.
Being alone, I decided to stay close to the car, planning to move it to different areas, instead of roaming around as I normally do when SO is along. I scanned my surroundings as carefully as I possibly could and saw nothing but a lone springbok grazing peacefully.
Good to go, I began scouring the area for buglets, and settled on some black and white bees on a yellow flower. As I knelt down I heard the unmistakable hack/snort/whatever category-of-cacophony a springbok makes as an alarm signal.
Rut-roh…lion? leopard?…nope. Just behind the far north picnic table was a gorgeous cheetah passing through on its way to the roadway.
Cheetahs aren't too scary, mainly elegant and awe inspiring. Too cool, especially after such a slow morning! I didn't want to scare him, so I remained motionless behind the car and waited for him to move out of sight.
I then jumped in the car, grabbed my other camera, and slowly pursued him, staying far away until I could tell he really wasn't spooked by my presence. He leisurely strolled along the roadway, through the grasses, sat down and rolled over, then continued on his happy go lucky way until I lost sight of him.
This was certainly a highlight of my trip - where else can a foreigner or a local, have a cheetah sighting all to themselves with little chance of any other car, and it be a new cheetah to boot, that they get to name?
I had previously named a female cheetah after "our" Mel, but that cheetah was later recognized as a previously named individual. I would have named this one "Mel", but she'd either have to rename herself "Male", or have a gender reassignment procedure.
Pretty sure Mel wouldn't go for this plan, so I chose the name "Segosi", which means royal, or regal.
