The Mountain Zebra National Park hosts two sets of feline predators – a pair of lions and cheetahs. The adult cheetahs have tracking and research collars on which facilitate rangers tracking these magnificent animals.
AT 8:00 am on Wednesday morning, 5 February 2014, we went out with Charl who took us towards the main gate of the Mountain Zebra National Park into the area inhabited by two of the females. The resident male travels betweeen the female groups, one of which has cubs so she is pretty elusive.
The cheetahs have adapted to hunting in the mountain ranges as the dominant lions have claimed the flatter areas as their home range – making for some serious hiking on foot if the cheetahs do not co-operate when being tracked. Naturally, Wednesday was just such a day and it took us an hour to get within parking distance of the signal from the cheetah and then the long 3.5 kilometre walk up and down Cradock’s famous ‘bumps’ until we literally bumped into our cheetah resting in the shade as the sun crept to it’s zenith.
Even at rest she was ever alert and obviously hungry as she disdainfully looked down on us lesser mortals whispering amongst ourselves. The temptation to stroke this wild creature became great as we inched to within metres of her.
All agreed that this sighting and walk was really worth the effort and that it would provide lifetime memories.
Alan Straton
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Hi Alan, lovely photos you must have been so excited on this trip. Tell me is this a trip that anyone can book in advance and how long did the walk with Charl last? Thanks for an interesting article.
Thank you.
We walked for around 2 hours to get to see the Cheetah – Charl did say that it was one of the longer tracking sessions that he had done, though.
The walk back (about 40 minutes) was quicker as we didn’t have to climb up or change direction so often
We left just before 8:00 and arrived back at around 12:45.
The cheetah tracking can be booked in advance at the Mountain Zebra Park. It is a regularly offered attraction so I don’t think you need to book far in advance. It costs around R280.00 per person.
Thanks so much for the information Alan. That is very good value for a ‘unique’ wildlife experience!