This one time, we saw a cheetah. It was actually pretty hilarious. We were driving to abandon bomas of different ages (a boma is portable cattle pen that's used to house cattle at night in the wild) and we saw some impala. My eyes were focused on this one impala that got its horns stuck in an acacia tree. We were laughing at it when our driver (Josephat) told us to be quiet. At first, I didn't understand, until another comrade pointed out the cheetah hiding behind an acacia tree a couple dozen meters off the impala herd. I was so excited to see a CHEETAH! Not to mention one that was actively HUNTING! Imagine a triangle of activity. At one point was the cheetah with her cub sitting next to her under the bush. The impala occupy another point of the triangle: browsing on acacia trees. The final point of the triangle is completed by us human spectators with our binoculars and cameras focused on the scene in front of us. Honestly, it was like a theatre of ecological biology playing out right in front of our eyes. My heart skipped a beat when the cheetah took a pace forward, out of the push and her seated stance into one I can only describe (anthropomorphizing) as a running in set stance. "Will I see a cheetah take down an impala RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES?" Sadly, our presence (the rumble of the cars) put the impala on defense and they spotted the cheetah hiding behind the bushes. The ensuing "battle" was packed with suspense. The head male impala took center stance in front of the herd of subordinate males and females. After grunting several times to warn her - almost as if saying "I know you're there" - the head male thundered off away from the cheetah and the others of the herd followed suit almost instantaneously.
Even sadder was the news that this cheetah (already looking thin) had been with two cubs earlier, but today we only saw her with one, meaning her other cub probably died...
Circle of life continues. But I can't help but feel bad, responsible even. If we hadn't driven by, maybe she would have taken down one of the impala, catching them unaware.
But we are a part of the circle of life, aren't we?
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