| On safari-- wildlife and nature photos |
 | ...and then there were two |
| ©Yvonne Milbank (see below for a larger image) 2005 |
From the late 1990s, three male cheetahs made a name for themselves--'the three boys'-- roaming the Linyanti. Their range extended from the area of Savuti bush camp in the south to near Kwando Lagoon in the north, a distance of about 80 kilometres. In the middle is Selinda, so it was there that they were seen most
For a species so vulnerable, their tenure was remarkable...and still is. One is believed to have died of snakebite in late June, 2005, but the two remaining 'boys' are still patrolling the same territory. Their 'brother' was sick when he was last sighted; then, a short time later, they were seen without him and appeared to be calling him, in vain. A sad end. It's possible another male cheetah will be recruited to restore the coalition to three; that's what happened about 1999 when one of the original three died. The pictures on this page are from the last few years of the trio's 'career'
Togetherness at
breakfast, Selinda (2002)But there's still a pecking order
and tugs o' war for the choicest bits (2002)
Contrast: brotherly love (2000), and predatory menace (2002) 
The pecking order comes to the fore not just over kills. An unusual challenge faced the three when the flooding of the spillway blocked their path across Selinda Reserve. For a few minutes, the dominant brother led a cautious assessment of the danger posed by catfish bubbles coming to the surface. Then he made a mad dash for the other side; a second or two later, his 'brothers' followed, taking a slightly different route through the shallow water (photos from 2004)
The 'brothers' are not the only cheetahs in the Selinda area. There's a couple of female residents, whose cubs of recent years have probably been sired by one or more of the coalition. One mother had male and female youngsters well on the way to adulthood at the time the trio became a pair (photos 2005)
Life goes on
The surviving 'brothers' maintained their efficiency after the loss of their sibling. In this hunt (2005), near the Selinda spillway, they brought down two impala as night fell, but left one for the hyenas. On the way, they went close to a giraffe, almost appearing to be studying it, but more likely checking something in the distance through a gap in the wild sage behind the giraffe. There was no chance they would consider tackling such a large animal
Nor was there any change in their long-range patrolling. A few days later, they were far to the north near Kwando Lagoon camp...hunting, scent-marking and resting, moving deliberately (yet it seemed casually) from vantage point to vantage point. Their life is marked by almost constant watchfulness. It seems they'll be around for a while yet
Five years separate the first photo above (one of the brothers watchfully resting in the shade of a bush near Zibalianja in 2000) from the other two, taken in Kwando territory in 2005
Return to the main Selinda pages Spots 'n' blotches
Equipment used at Selinda and Kwando:
Canon EOS1n and EOS5, with Canon 400/2.8 and 300/2.8 lenses and extenders, 100-400 IS zoom & 100/2.8 macro lenses, Sigma 17-35/2.8-4 lens, Canon 540 EZ and 580 EX flashes; Fuji Sensia 100, Velvia (50 & 100 ISO), Provia 100F, and Agfa RSX II 200. The Maplink on the left will show you where Selinda is. Go to the links below for more photographs from Africa and from Australia
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