A wildlife photographer has shared some of his favorite pictures to mark International Cheetah Day on Sunday, Dec. 4.
Paul Goldstein has been studying the fastest animal on land since he saw his first one almost forty years ago.
The Wimbledon-based guide will spend many hours searching for the predators in the conservancies of Kenya.
“They are daytime cats that cannot compete with the heavier predators like lions and leopards in the twilight and night,” Goldstein says. “They are also threatened and lose the majority of their meals to stronger competition.
“However to see one, often compelled by her hungry offspring, explode across the plains is a defining sight of nature and one I never tire of.
“I have spent longer with cheetahs than many of my relatives, they never short-change. They give you so much.”
All they need is prey and, more critically, space, he adds. Humans should allow them as big a berth as possible.
“The open plains of the Rift Valley, particularly the Mara Conservancies, are the best places in Africa for them—acacia studded grasslands with plenty in the larder and very few vehicles,” Goldstein says.
“If I find one early, I know my day is mapped out, I don’t leave till they have hunted. Successfully.
“There may be better ways of spending a day, but offhand I can’t think of many.”
Paul Goldstein co-owns Kicheche, a series of eco camps in four Kenyan Conservancies.
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