We had just stepped off the plane at Lewa and were traveling via land cruisers toward camp. We paused for a moment to give our guides, Peter and Daniel, the opportunity to scour the landscape for wildlife with their binoculars. Meanwhile, one of the other passengers, amazingly, spotted the flicking of Cheetah ears among the tall savannah grasses, in the distance. Daniel and Peter drove us off-road and in for a closer look. Before I knew it, we were not even ten feet away from three Cheetah brothers lying under an acacia tree. Awesome! The three brothers continued to lie there with two large vehicles full of people surrounding them and seemed relatively unbothered by us. We spoke in whispers and restricted our movements while they continued to flick their ears and tails and occasionally raise their noses to the air.

The three brothers have found success hunting together and therefore have not yet disbanded to become individual hunters with their own territories. On our 11th day, as we were heading back toward the landing strip on our journey home, we once again came upon the three brothers. They welcomed us upon arrival and appeared to be wishing us farewell.

--Jolene zooguru@cox.net

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