As you know, Cheetahs are our favorite animal.  Our den has 18 cheetah prints and paintings in it.  These cheetahs are all from Mombo.

Once we were watching a large group of giraffes when our ranger, Copper, noticed five of the giraffes were standing in a row and all looking interestedly in the same direction.  We went to investigate and, sure enough, about a half K away there were some cheetahs lying around.  There were six in the group, varying from quite young to a matriarch.  (The picture with all six made the cheetahs too small for seeing well, but here are three of them.)

They were relaxed, but alert.  They can lock their heads into this position and even sleep with the head propped on the shoulder like this.

They were looking this way and that.

They were often all stretched out, but still very alert.

But they had some fun too.

They moved around a bit.
       

I think this is my favorite photo of the whole trip.  Isn't it interesting how the hair in his spots stands up differently from the rest of his coat?  He struck a perfect pose in a perfect composition for a painting.

Next we'll see some more smaller things from Mombo.

Click on the cheetah sketch to go to the next page.

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