Wild Search

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I woke early this morning, and as I lay in bed ideally wondering what the time was and how long I had before my alarm forced me to rise, my thoughts turned to home. Or, more precisely to my many friends back in the UK that I haven't seen in months, and in a few cases for years. There are so many of you that I wish I could bring out here, and show you my life in the bush, show you my mornings, show you my afternoons, and give you the chance to share some of my adventures first hand. Alas, money and time, or rather the lack thereof generally scuppers such plans, but in their place, I thought it was time (and possibly time overdue) to write here again. The following happened over a month ago, and while I did share it with a few souls via email, I always intended for it to find a place here.

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Five months ago we fitted a GPS satellite collar to a female cheetah (known simply at the "Wildmum") just before we released her along with two sub-adult sons.  The collar unfortunately malfunctioned - it had been used successfully on two previous cats, but the third proved too much for it. The malfunction was such that although it continued to try to transmit data every 3 1/2 days, it never had any GPS information to pass on.  Fortunately, the latest generation of Sirtrack software allows you to access what are known as Argos fixes - position estimates generated by the Argos satellite each time a collar uplinks to it.  These fixes are not as good as a GPS, with accuracy of only +/- 300m (instead of +/- 10m), but they still give an idea of movement.  They are undoubtedly more accurate than the airborne radio tracking used in years past.

For the first time at CCF however, we had fitted the collar with a timed release mechanism that was designed to drop the collar off of the Wildmum's neck at a predefined moment.  At 2am one Monday morning it dropped as planned, and yesterday I went in on foot to with the VHF tracking gear to retrieve it. As soon as I left my vehicle, I realised how difficult it was going to be. The grass was up to my knees, and so thick that I couldn't see the ground clearly for more than a metre away. To find the collar, I'd have to almost literally step upon it. Despite many years spent radio tracking assorted lions, cheetahs, rhinos, and other animals, this proved to be the most challenging bit of tracking I'd ever done.  An hour after reaching the area that I knew from the Argos data that it was in, I finally managed to home in on the location (with Gail's dad, Johan,  alongside me).  I'd thought I was close so many times, and tweaked the receiver again and again, often with increasing frustration at its limited controls - the next generation of tracking receivers really needs a fine gain adjustment as well as the course one! As I wondered how much longer to try for, the situation abruptly changed.

Suddenly I heard movement ahead, and I looked up expecting to see a surprised Steenbok racing away. To my amazement I saw instead a cheetah just 20 m away, staring back at me!  It was the Wildmum herself, with her silver eartag clear to see.  She stared at me a while then backed away some.  I could see that she had no collar, so as expected it had to be on the ground nearby, and after calling to Johan who was lagging behind, I edged nearer.  The Wildmum stayed and watched, which is totally out of character for a wild cheetah.  She darted a few metres back, then rushed forward again, straight towards me.  At this I started to have my suspicions, but this time it was Johan who's keen eyes confined it. There ahead of me, about 4 metres away we saw three tiny faces staring out from their den!  Cheetah cubs, at most a month old!

Wow! It was amazing!  I realised that the collar must be in the den itself, and of-course decided to leave it there.  Instead, I took a GPS point, snapped off three quick photos with hands shaking with reaction, then we backed away, while all the time the adult glared and hissed at us. I moved far back before circling around her to get back to the car. The photos are pretty awful, but you can make out two of the cubs.

This is probably the most incredible find I've ever had in the bush, and one of the most incredible afternoons of my life. With or without this record, I will never forget that particular afternoon.

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We subsequently decided to leave the Wildmum and her family well alone. She probably left that den almost immediately, but just in case, we haven't been back since. Eventually I will return to recover the collar so we can have it reconditioned and reused. At $3600USD each, they are far too expensive to abandon in the bush, but this time it truly was money well spent.

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Comments

[Freddie]

Dearest Rob, thanks so much for sharing! That sounds amazing! I wish I could come and visit. I\'ll save up. X

[Françoise]

...Keep \'em comin\'! Yours very dirty from yet another day picking almonds and dodging tarantulas at home in the province of Tarragona, Spain. Françoise

[Rachel Hunt]

Hey Rob! So glad to hear she was just protecting her own and not looking for a fight with you, per se! I can only imagine the sheer beauty of your life in Africa and what a wonderful experience it sounds too - you sound as though you truly have found a little slice of heaven on earth! Fear not for the lack of contact with old friends, true friends will always remain with you wherever your travels take you and who knows, maybe one day, some of us may come and visit you there! Stay safe my friend and I look forward to our paths crossing again one day :o) x

[Sarah]

You're amazing adventures are inspiring. I hope to come and visit you and the CCF soon. Keep up the fantastic work :) xxxs