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July Update: The cheetah on the tree

  • August 03, 2019 | Rhulani Safari Lodge

Did you know that even cheetahs can climb trees? If not, you could have followed this as a Rhulani guest with us last month. Welcome to our July review from the bush.

Watching a cheetah on a tree with Sean

July statistics: Frequency of animal encounters per game drive

Watching spotted hyenas in their den from a distance

Occurrences which are special in any way happen in the African bush every day. That's why our rangers, who drive out into the bush with our guests every day, keep their passion.

The last month of July was again full of events that often left us speechless. Tucked away somewhere, Alasdair found a den where a family of spotted hyena lived, and where the cubs had already reached a stately size and will soon leave their "nest". We were able to observe this animal, which is not often seen in such a beautiful way, from a cautious distance.

And then, this cheetah. Not as strong and secure as a leopard, but still quite adept, this wonderful male cheetah jumped on the tree, while its brother, that lingered under the tree, was as astonished as we were. Sean, who was there, says with a smile: "it's a cat, and so it climbs a tree..." But still, seeing this slender cat with its long legs balancing on the thin branch was very special. And it was not easy for the cheetah to come down again.

Once again, the quality of game viewing was excellent even in the dry winter season. Let's take a look at the statistics from our rangers which illustrate the probability of seeing the biggest animals of the African bush on one game drive: Elephant 68%, White Rhino 66%, Buffalo 38%, Lion 46%, Leopard 8%.