You can learn about tracking animals - finding their spoor (footmarks), looking for signs of fresh dung, listening to alarm calls of other animals - but sometimes all you need is luck…

For the last couple of weeks our group has been split into two halves - those doing the FGASA qualification, and those, like me, who are completing the course but not completing the exams or practical assessments. This afternoon the FGASA group are starting their practical assessments meaning that my group can't go on a game drive. After lunch we discuss amongst the group plans for later in the afternoon - the choices are to go a game walk, or do some road / bush maintenance. We agree on the latter. We pack the Land Rover with our kit - machetes, scythes, branch choppers, and the all important cool box filled with beers and bottles of cider - and head out into the bush. Not far from camp is a road which goes through an old river bed. Where the road drops down across the river bed the reeds have been cut away, but on either side of the road the reeds rise up and bend over forming a reed tunnel over the road that stretches the 20 feet or so over the river bed. Although pretty to look at, the roof of the tunnel is too low for the Land Rover to pass comfortably under so we get to work with the machetes removing the reeds from the roof of the tunnel. We continue further down the road clearing the Sickle Bushes and other branches that are encroaching on the road. After an hour or so of chopping branches in the hot afternoon sun, our minds turn to the beers in the cool box and we decide it's beer o'clock. Chris remembers that half a mile or so further up the track is a tall rock that you can climb which offers stunning views over the bushvelt. We quickly find the spot, park the Land Rover in the grass next to the track and make our way the 100 metres or so through the bush to the rock. We climb the 25 foot or so up the rock, open our cold beers and sit looking down over the bush below us. The view over the trees and bushes is stunning - we watch a herd of impala running through the bush below to our left, wildebeest to our right. If Carlsburg did beer gardens they'd be like this!

Beers finished we decide it's time to make our way slowly back to camp. As we climb down the rock, we hear a vehicle drive along the track near to where we left our Land Rover - it's unusual for the other lodges in the reserve to be this far south on their game drives - we speculate whether it is the GVI Research team (the scientific research team based in the reserve who monitor and study the wildlife) or whether monkeys have just stolen our Land Rover! As we walk back through the bush to where we left the Land Rover, Chris radios Laura from GVI to ask if they are currently in the south of the reserve and if so whether they've seen anything of interest. She confirms that they've just passed our Land Rover having just spent time watching 2 male cheetahs about 400 metres further down the track!

As it's on our way back to camp we decide it would be rude not to stop and see the cheetah! We drive a minute or so up the track, climb out and walk about 50 yards into the bush. We reach a dried up river bed and see 2 cheetah lying in the river bed about 50 yards away. They seem totally relaxed and we make our way towards them. Our excitement mounts as we get closer - it's a slightly nervous excitement as we get to within about 5 - 10 metres of these 2 wild cheetahs. They still look totally unfazed by our presence - one lifts his head slowly from the river bed, looks over his shoulder directly at us, decides that we are no threat and flops his head back down onto the sand. We stand watching and talking photos for a few minutes. The first cheetah then slowly stands up and starts walking up the river bank, soon followed by his brother. We follow, walking about 5 metres behind them. As they wander slowly up towards the road, we speed up and make our way round in front of them. We stop about 15 metres in front of them and watch, transfixed, as they walk slowly towards us. There's something beautiful about how a cheetah walks - the main thing you notice about other big cats is their size and power, whereas a cheetah is much more slender and graceful. The two brothers walk slowly past us and into the bush. We would like to follow, but it's starting to get dark, we're quite a distance from the Land Rover, we don't know what else is in the area, and we don't have a rifle with us. Our time with the cheetahs is over for today, but it was a magical 15 minutes. Without doubt it's the best animal encounter we've had so far and just goes to prove that quite often it's all down to luck - we just happened to stop at that rock to drink our beers, just happened to hear the GVI vehicle…

For those who are interested, a few cheetah facts! -

They are the only one of the big cats who can't retract their claws, the only ones who can purr, the only ones who can't roar, the only ones who don't climb trees. When they make a kill they eat the meat from within the animal carcass as opposed to ripping the meat off - this way the meat remains clean. Their long tail acts as a rudder when chasing prey and, along with their non-retractable claws, allows them to change direction quickly at speed. ecember

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