Cheetahs require large expanses of land that can support prey and suitable cover to thrive. One such habitat is the famed Masai Mara, a large game reserve in Kenya, named in honour of the Masai tribe. These big cats live in groups called coalitions and the Mara was home to a coalition of five male cheetahs that lived together since 2016. The coalition — named ‘Tano Bora’ or ‘The Magnificent Five’ — dwindled to just two after three of the cheetahs died between December 2020 and July 2022. A series of pictures taken during the first week of August this year features a hunt by the two survivors.
During the ‘Great Migration’ period from mid-July to mid-September, prey is plentiful as lakhs of wildebeest, zebras, and medium-size ungulates such as impala, springbok, and Thomson’s gazelles migrate from the Serengeti in Tanzania.
That August morning, the cheetah duo strode to a vantage point to identify their target — a young wildebeest that stood over two km away in the Savannah grassland. With enormous patience and focus, and unperturbed by the movement of other animals, one of them made the first move after a 20-minute wait. Then, the cheetahs stealthily slid through the greenish-yellow tall grass to the nearest thicket.
The stalking began, slowly and steadily. Within an hour, they were just 400 metres from the prey. The final assault came from two different directions, startling the target and allowing no scope of escape. In the melee, the juvenile wildebeest gets separated from the herd.
The cheetahs pounce. The wildebeest falls.
