A quiet morning in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park turned into an extraordinary wildlife encounter when four male cheetahs surrounded a lone female, leaving her dramatically outnumbered four to one.
Ria Van Greunen was there to witness the dramatic moment and filmed the entre confrontation.
Male cheetahs spotted basking in the sun
Ria recalls: “The morning started off with us searching for lions at Sistas waterhole but we had no luck. Someone stopped next to us whilst we waited for the lions to arrive at the waterhole and told us there were cheetahs a bit further down the road. We slowly drove off to see if they were still there. The place was on the Mata Mata Road between Sistas and Craig Lochardt waterhole. The first sighting of the cheetahs was of the males resting in the grass, playing with one another and lying in the sun.
Their coats blended into the dry vegetation around them, making them difficult to see from a distance.
According to Ria: “We spotted the four cheetahs (nicknamed The Four Musketeers) and one could see they were really big cheetahs. We first watched them doing their usual business of playing games, rolling around in the grass, soaking up the sun… They later lay down in the grass on the other side of the riverbed and were completely camouflaged in the surroundings.”
In this moment, they appeared completely relaxed and without a care in the world. However, this was about to change.
Lone female cheetah reclines in long grass
Nearby was a lone female cheetah. She was also well camouflaged; however with four determined males in the area, she was vulnerable.
Says Ria: “There were springboks in the river bed, so we waited to see if there might be an early morning kill. Another car stopped by and said there was a single cheetah on the other end of the river bend. This single cheetah is known as Corrine.”
Male cheetahs become aware of female’s presence
Corrine was preparing to hunt for the springbok. However, this would take her to the vicinity where The Four Musketeers were lying.
“Corrine charged the springbok, but the attempt failed,” says Ria. “The buck then ran off in the direction of the Four Musketeers. They did not really know what was going on and tried to catch the springbuck running in and out amongst them. Clearly, they were not very happy knowing that Corrine was on their turf.”
The ‘Four Musketeers’ hunt lone female cheetah
What happened next was a brutal encounter.
“The Four Musketeers then launched an attack on Corrine. You know that feeling… if I only can chase them away and help her. However, she did not move away and the attack happened so quickly. When they first began to fight, she had made no effort to move and they attacked her four times with intervals of two to four minutes. The in-between times they were also licking their wounds not prepared to give up so easily.”
Ria recalls the terrible skirmith which she witnessed: “She (Corrine) fought only with her upper body every time and never lifted her back from the ground. We thought they might have broken her lower back. One could see she had an open wound on her right foreleg and her mouth was also full of blood and she also had some ugly bite marks on her back.”
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She says The Four Musketeers eventually left Corrine alone. “Later we drove off to Kamqua for a picnic, with mixed emotions. I don’t think there was a person watching with us that was not emotionally involved.”
Female cheetah spotted alive and well after ordeal
However, in spite of being brutally attacked, Corrine was stronger than she appeared too be.
“A couple of days after the attack, I was told that Corrine had been sighted and she was doing well. This was the first time that the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park brought tears to my eyes. It was like watching a gangster movie, being outnumbered four to one.”
View more scintillating bushveld action
It’s not easy watching confrontations such as this one. They are rare and teach us something about each species involved. We will keep you updated with the latest sightings through our WhatsApp group. Click here to join.
