Magic in the Moonlight

[Loi Nguyen]

We were cooling our heels waiting for a family of cheetah to wake up from their afternoon nap when the driver got a call of a possible hunt 1/2 hr away. We raced to the scene, but it was a bit late. A female cheetah had taken down a gazelle. We got to witness she calling to the 4 cubs in hiding, so it was fun and spent the rest of the day watching them devour the kill. The driver said the presence of the vehicles may deter the hyenas, so we stayed as long as we could. There were 3 cars there initially, but soon only our vehicle was left and was rewarded with this unbelievable scene.

The mother is ever vigilant. She would eat a little bit and then stand up scanning around for danger while her cubs devour the kill.

Canon 5D4
70-200 f2.8 II @ 182mm
1/85
f8
ISO-1600
HH while lying on the floor of a Land Rover.

I used F8 to get as much DOF as possible and ISO-1600 to minimize the noise in the dark sky.

It was a difficult shot. I tried many different combos and even with flash, but this one seems to be the best.

Appreciate your comments.

Thank you

Loi