The Cheetah’s territorial display.

I’ve been trying to post to themes on our South Africa trip, but I still have some photos that didn’t fit in. We had the opportunity to get up close and personal with most of the animals we saw throughout our trip.

A pregnant Spotted Hyena relaxes near her den.

The Spotted Hyena above was near her den at Shambala, and while there were some others in evidence, she decided to relax on the road for a while and keep an eye on us while the rest wandered through the brush. The Spotted Hyena is an aggressive pack hunter, and will defend itself when attacked by lions or dogs. Being medium sized carnivores they do consider people as part of their food chain, but there are relatively few attacks reported.

Lions at a water hole.

I wasn’t sure whether to put this picture with the animals or the landscape post I’ll be finishing this series up with. Since there are so many lions in the frame I decided to go with them in this post, which gives me the chance to go from big cat…

The Black-footed Cat is the smallest wild cat in South Africa.

… to little cat. The Black-footed Cat, so named for the black bottom on its paws is a tiny thing, smaller than most domestic cats at two pounds or so. What they lack in size, they make up for in attitude. They’re solitary and nocturnal, and very aggressive.  Only the Rusty-spotted Cat of India and Sri Lanka is smaller.

Warthogs grazing.

Warthogs were a common sight throughout the countryside, but they tended to keep their distance from us. We frequently saw them grazing with Wildebeest.

Cheetah waiting for his dinner.

Finally we had the chance to spend some time among several Cheetahs. Fascinating creatures, and personally probably my favorite among the cats.