NamibRand cheetahs - field report as of 21/July

The boys seem to be remaining in the area, although they are spending increasing amounts of time lurking around the farmhouse that is Park HQ instead of the girls pen.  

 

Here are some of the field reports from Selma...

 

12th:

 

Yesterday they walked up to Toskaan area, of which I believe they were hunting and they could not catch any prey therefore they came back to the pen. Today morning they hunt a sub-adult male springbok just next to the pen fence. I think they used the method of chasing the springbok in the fence in order to catch it as there was a proof of it. The prey is fully consumed, only the neck area which is not eaten.

 

13th:

 

Our boys are doing fine although they are still moving around the pen, sooner or later they will realise that the girls are gone and start roaming away from the pen. Today afternoon as we observe them, they are moving toward Draaihoek and Toskaan. It seems like they have created a route of which they are moving between Toskaan and Keerweder pen.  As usual Kia is leading the group walking infront followed by Ra, Lindt and Cadbury. Mushara stayed behind standing on the granite rock and observing the surrounding area. He then followed the others after two minutes. I think they are out hunting.

 

17th:

 

The boys are back to Keerweder area, they were just in front of the guest house early in the morning. It will be so hard for these boys to leave Keerweder vicinity as they are used to the area, they will keep on going and coming back. The ‘stoop’ in front of the guest house has become their marking area of which in some cases they spend their night and urinate there.

 

I think they are out hunting as they were quite observant. According to Florian, they approached a herd of red hartebeest and chased one but they were not that serious because they only chased it for few seconds and were not that fast. They were walking toward Boscia, hopefully they successfully hunted later in the afternoon.

I will let you know if they hunt or not when I track them tomorrow.

 

You can see from the attached map how they forage out, then return straight back to the same area.  

 

Rob