hollymathwriter
- Apr 5, 2023
- 3 min read

Amakhala Morning Safari

March 13, 2023

We found the cheetahs today! The three males were the most recent cheetahs added to the park. Lions had killed earlier cheetahs, but these cheetahs have proven to be crafty in avoiding the lions.

We met for morning tea before the final safari at Amakhala. Although no animals were at the watering hole, there were giraffe and hartebeest in the distance.

Closer to us, a black beetle was swimming in the pool and a weaver bird was in a tree (the kind of bird that makes the nests we saw at Kruger).

The vervet monkeys were back as well. It was fascinating to watch them move about and balance on the small branches.

However, we learned quickly not to leave anything unattended while they were around!

As we began our game drive, we saw a black-winged kite perched atop a tree searching for prey. It's not too picky. It will eat rodents, lizards, smaller birds, insects and even bats!

We saw more black wildebeest.

Nearby were Grevy's zebra. We could tell these were Grevy's zebra and not plains zebra because they didn't have the lighter "shadow stripe" and the stripes stopped before the belly.

I was excited when we spotted a black-backed jackal almost hidden in the tall grass. They hunt in pairs, so soon we saw a second jackal as well. Likely they were a mated pair as jackals stay with the same partner throughout their life. They crossed the road in front of us then disappeared again in the grass. The black-backed jackal is the oldest dog species. Its ancestors lived 2.5 million years ago in the Pleistocene Era.

A ways down the road there were some hartebeest in our path. A pair of young bucks were play fighting which was fun to watch. This is good practice for when they are older and need to fight other males for their territory and female hartebeest.

Next we see giraffes, an ant-eating chat landing on a nearby tree. and a warthog racing across the road

Another black-backed jackal makes an appearance. We don't see the other part of the pair though, so perhaps this one hasn't yet found a partner.

Next we saw some blesbok, a kind of hartebeest, distinguished by the white markings on its face. It is the smallest of the hartebeests and came very close to extinction. Luckily through the efforts of reserves such as Amakhala, it has been reintroduced to the wild and is now thriving again.

We next saw some small birds (maybe chats) on one of the many termite mounds.

Finally it was our turn to see the cheetahs! They had been spotted earlier, but we had to wait to approach as only two cars are allowed near them at one time. They were taking a morning nap but did look up at us occasionally. Cheetahs are not only the fastest of the great cats, but they are the fastest land animals. They can accelerate from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in only 3 seconds! Even at this fast speed, they can still make sudden twists and turns when pursuing their prey.

Finally, they began to get up. Our guide thought it might be one of us they were interested in, but then a very noisy car full of people passed by outside the fence. They headed to the fence to investigate.

On the way back, we saw ostriches. They were closer than last night. There was a male and two females. You can tell them apart because the male's feathers are black except on the tail which is white. Females have brown feathers.

Next was a pair of warthogs with five piglets. Likely both adults are females as they live together in sounders with the babies while the males usually live alone.

We saw a pair of South African shelducks. The female has a white head and the male has a gray head.

We were excited to see the white rhinoceros up close with his full horns. The guide told us some stories about how dangerous they can be if they get angry or even too happy. A jackal started to head our way, but turned around the other way upon spotting the rhino.