A DAY WITH CHEETAHS

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Working from their base at Mata Mata camp in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park which straddles the border between Botswana and South Africa, internationally acclaimed wildlife filmmakers David and Carol Hughes have been photographing cheetahs for a new film on this desert region. Anxious to record courtship and mating behaviour, they set off to follow up on an urgent radio call pinpointing two males and a female at a nearby waterhole. The day unfolds with some unexpected results...

31 January
06h15 'Come quick man... three cheetahs... Sitzas.' Something like that erupts from the radio in our Land Rover as we're getting ready to leave camp. The voice belongs to Piet Heyman, avid cheetah watcher and wildlife photographer who left camp 15 minutes ago. He's at Sitzas, a waterhole 10 minutes' drive away, and he's with three cheetahs. We're on our way.

As we drive towards him, Piet describes the cheetahs and we're sure we know at least a couple of them: two males, most likely brothers, whose territory is centred on Sitzas. We've been photographing them for months for a film we're making on the Kalahari. This morning, apparently, they're courting a female and that's an event we're very keen to get.

Another burst from the radio. Piet's voice is urgent: the cheetahs are leaving the waterhole... heading off into the dunes. Every second's precious now. Cheetah disappear quickly in the dunes, and if we lose them we may not see them for days. Moments later we're at Sitzas, passing Piet in his Land Rover. He points into the dunes. He'd dearly love to go there but he doesn't have the off-road privileges that we've been given by the park authorities. We leave the road and begin to climb a gently sloping dune. As the Land Rover slowly grinds and jolts upwards we frantically unclip the canvas windows and slide the cameras on to their mounts.

Halfway up the dune we come upon a single cheetah crouching low on the sand and facing away from us. Even from behind we know her well, having spent many days of the past two years filming her.

08h00 A male arrives - one of the brothers. He walks directly to the female, sniffs briefly at her rear, then pauses for a quick look around. We wonder if he's looking for his sibling and constant companion who might now be his rival.

The female turns to face the male and his attention returns to her. He mounts quickly, grabbing the back of her neck in his jaws, remains motionless for a few seconds, then releases his hold and sits up for another look around. Satisfied, he grasps the female's neck again and she allows the weight of his body to push her down into a crouch while he begins rapid pelvic thrusts. The mating lasts half a minute, then there's a minute's pause during which the male stays mounted. He begins again but stops abruptly 20 seconds later when the female suddenly whirls round on him and tumbles him unceremoniously into the bushes. The mating is over.

10h00 Later, as the female moves off, both she and her mate are distracted by the arrival of the other male. He walks directly to his brother, sniffs, almost mounts him, but then turns and approaches the female. She, however, is in no mood for a ménage à trois and repels him with vigorous paw swipes. All of this is accompanied by deep growls and rumbles and, from the males, high chirrups and a sort of rattling purr. For a few minutes the female spiritedly fends off their repeated attempts to mount her, then she turns and makes a bee-line for our Land Rover. The males follow at a distance, chirruping and purring loudly to her as she checks out our front bumper.

We are astonished. This is the first time any of these cheetahs have approached the Land Rover. During the months we've been filming them, they've grown used to our vehicle in the background, but until now they've always ignored it. The female takes her time investigating the front wheels and the males lie down companionably a few metres away, still chirruping. Whatever their courtship problems, rivalry is not one of them.

By this stage all three cheetahs are on the left side of the Land Rover and mounted cameras can't reach them. Moving the vehicle is not an option. This isn't an unusual predicament for wildlife photographers, though, and David simply transfers his camera to a beanbag slung over the ledge of his opposite window.

After some hesitation the female crawls under the Land Rover and settles between the front wheels, only her long tail still visible. The males follow in exaggerated slow motion and frozen pauses until they, too, have disappeared underneath us. So here we are, sitting on three cheetahs, hardly daring to move and talking in whispers so as not to disturb the chirrupings and purrs that keep breaking out beneath us. But we are happy enough; it's a small price for what we've been privy to. Few have witnessed cheetahs mating in the wild at such close quarters, much less filmed it.

12h00 By noon the air is hot. The Land Rover, fully exposed to the Kalahari's summer sun, has become a slow oven. Beneath us the three cheetahs rest comfortably in solid shade, even their tails tucked in. Fortunately we are in a slight dip on the dune and can't be seen from the road, so the occasional tourist driving by is completely unaware of our novel arrangement. David talks softly on the radio to Piet who is still waiting below, hoping the cheetahs will walk down the dune to more appropriate shade. He says he has plenty of food if we get hungry, but he knows we aren't going to disturb the cheetahs for some barbecued chicken thighs.

We are going to need more water, though, and to reach the water tank we'll have to open our creaky back door - that may panic the cheetahs. We hold out until two o'clock, by which time the temperature in the Land Rover is nearing 45 OC. Desperate, we decide to risk it. Usually I can open the back door with a couple of good kicks - out of the question now. David climbs into the back and puts his shoulder to it. The door springs open with a loud groan. Deep silence. We wait awhile to reassure our guests, then David leans out and fills a teapot and two bottles from the water tank. There is no reaction from below. Feeling easier about the cheetah's sensitivities, I brew tea on a small, hissing gas stove and we tuck into some pan-bread and lukewarm peanut butter. David even opens a tin of sardines and cheekily pours the oil out of the window. A sudden bout of purring from below is purely coincidental I know, but it's reassuring.

15h00 The sun is shining broadside into the Land Rover and we sweat and doze behind a pegged-up towel and pair of tracksuit pants. Incredible to think it was cold enough to wear the pants this morning, but temperature extremes are typical of the Kalahari. In the sweltering heat I indulge in a wildlife filmmaker's fantasy about a new relationship between the cheetahs and us: we're driving slowly towards a herd of springbok grazing in the riverbed and the two brothers are keeping perfect pace underneath the Land Rover until they're close enough to dart out...

17h00 Distant thunder in the late afternoon and the scent of rain remind me of our unzipped tent left in haste this morning. But the storm drifts in another direction and by half past six we are enjoying the mellow glory of a Kalahari sunset. If only the cheetah would walk out now - but of course they don't.

At seven Piet radios that he's leaving for camp. Fifteen minutes later, both males emerge from under the Land Rover. The long hours of waiting are over. It's too dark to film, so we're free to relax and relish these few minutes of quality cheetah time. The brothers lounge close to the vehicle, incurious about its occupants. They have only one thing on their minds, but the female isn't budging. We decide that it's time to leave.

As soon as the engine starts the female runs out and immediately the males renew their suit, chirruping and purring seductively to her. But, implacably hostile, she turns on them whenever they approach. There's a brief flurry of paws and the males become cautious. One of them is bleeding from a bite or scratch on his thigh. We restart the engine and drive off.

1 February
04h30 Next morning we return well before sunrise. It's still too dark to see anything, but we are able to home in on the distinctive, come-hither chirps of the two brothers. It's apparent the female has given her suitors the slip and they're desperate to find her. For the next four hours they wander the dunes, purring and chirping incessantly. En route they inspect and renew their territorial markers, mostly trees growing in the dunes that have survived long enough to become landmarks. Each brother sniffs the same tree, then turns around, lifts his tail and sprays the trunk until it is saturated with urine.

11h30 By late morning we leave them quietly resting in the deep shade of a shepherd's tree. Today we are part of the background again and they show not the slightest interest at our departure. But there was one moment this morning when the brothers did show some memory of yesterday. Soon after we found them, they came over to the Land Rover and sniffed and peered underneath. Not finding the female between our wheels, they left us without a backward glance.

Carol and David Hughes are wildlife filmmakers whose most recent film is about honey badgers in the Kalahari Desert. Their current project, on the cheetahs of the Kalahari for National Geographic, is in the final stages of production.

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