Grace's dad generously gifted us (technically a regift but we were definitely not complaining!) a few nights at Zulu Nyala, a private game reserve in northern South Africa. This was our last African safari experience and luckily we can say that we went out with a bang!

One animal we hadn't seen in Palmwag, Etosha or Chobe was the cheetah. Of the big cats, they're not particularly elusive (seeing leopards is much more rare), we just hadn't run into any. So, we were super excited when we saw one on a morning game drive. 

Our guide told us that he could tell by its behavior that the cheetah was hungry and would be hunting for food.

Later on that same day, on our afternoon game drive, we saw many rhinos, monkeys and zebras, as well as a fresh baby giraffe and a few elephants, before again encountering our cheetah friend. 

As we pulled up to where the cheetah sat in the road, not far from where he had been that morning, we saw that he had indeed landed himself a meal.

And, thanks to lucky timing, we could see exactly what he had caught. A small warthog (our guide said it was probably one year old) lay in front of him, already torn open but not yet fully eaten. We probably got there 5-10 minutes after the cheetah had made his kill. 

The cheetah couldn't have cared less that we parked a few meters from him and watched him chow down. We learned that cheetahs typically eat about once a week and when they do, they go all out, stuffing themselves until their bellies are distended. They also eat as quickly as possible to avoid getting their food stolen by another animals, such as a leopard, which could drag the kill up a tree to eat (cheetahs can't climb trees).  

Although the cheetah was loving it, watching him was quite gruesome at times (blood on his fur, the sound of bones crunching... you get the picture) but it was just the kind of safari moment you hope for - one that's so raw and wild that it gets your heart beating just a little bit faster. 

Just a warning, the images are a bit graphic, so don't scroll all the way to the bottom if you have a weak stomach! :-)