Samara Day 5

Today we woke up at 7:30 (1:30am at home) and began to look for the cheetah named Sabella. She is a cheetah that was brought in by the Samara program because she was treated poorly at another previous reserve. They put a collar on her so she can now be tracked, to study her predation habits, foraging range, and mating habits. Unfortunately we couldn’t find her today. Alwyn thinks she either went down in the valley or the south side, and that’s why we couldn’t pick up a signal on her (Drew in the picture). We are going to look down in the southern part of the property tomorrow. Sabella seems to be pregnant as well, and the gestation period is only a few months, so hopefully I came just at the right time and will be able to observe her cubs. Apparently Sabella went up in the mountains last time she gave birth, so perhaps she is there now! After we gave up on the cheetah hunt, we went on a long walk through out the property. We saw an aardvark, which are the coolest and strangest looking things that I may have ever seen, but of course my camera was in my backpack, and once I pulled it out it went back into its burrow. We also saw a HUGE male Kudu that was not phased by our presence, even when we were less than 5 meters from him. Weather is amazing now, with not cloud in the sky. It is supposed to be like this for at least a week! Excited for our braai and star watching tonight. The stars are amazing here!