I have never had a more emotional wildlife experience in all of my years of going on safaris. In Feb 2008, we encountered a cheetah mother with 4 adult male cubs near Ndutu Lodge in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) in the Serengeti eco-system. That in itself is an amazing occurance since only 1 out of 20 cheetahs survive to adulthood. A mother that raises 4 cubs to adult size is remarkable and something our guides had never seen in their combined 70 years of experience. For a couple days we kept track of what they were up to by checking out their territory early in the morning and late in the afternoon. We watched mom teaching them to hunt and watched them play.

In February 2009 I immediately asked about and searched out the brothers. We found that one of the brothers had disappeared and they of course by this time the remaining three were on their own ( we were not able to locate the mother). They provided me with another unique experience by climbing trees to search the landscape for prey. I had never see or heard of cheetahs in trees (they have dog like paws), but they provided me with shots on successive days in trees that were accessible for their limited climbing ability. 

In May 2009 upon arrival at Ndutu, I again asked about and sought out the brothers. I was truly excited when we finally located them on the second day, but my excitement turned to shock and amazement as they chose our visit as the time for 2 of the brothers to turn on the third. In successively more violent attacks, it appeared as though they were trying to kill him. The fury, wailing, and intensity was more reality than I, my fellow travelers and even our guides were able to handle. In the end, we intervened by running the attackers off the severely injured brother. We have no idea if they came back later to finish him off or if the victim could survive the injuries, and were at at total loss at what we had witnessed.

Through our guides, we later learned from a researcher that has followed the brothers from birth that in fact they were not brothers. Two of the original cubs were from another mother, and the mother we met in Feb 2008, raised them and her own 2 as her own. The researcher said that it is not uncommon for male cheetahs to bond when young and then separate at early adulthood. The separation is often violent and sometimes ends in death. I will continue to inquire to find out if the injured cheetah survived. I have video of some of the attacks that will be posted soon.