The purring of a cheetah.

Never, ever in my whole life did I ever thought I would be close enough to a wild cheetah to hear it purring! Frankly, I did not even knew they did purr. They do, however, and they do it in a way that no other cat animals does: on both in and out breath. Well, according to our ranger, and I guess he would know:)I l ove cats. I can tolerate dogs, those I like, but I have yet to meet a cat I don't like. When we came across this cheetah mother with her two adolescent cubs they had just felled an impala, and the cubs where eating while the mother was on constant watch. She wasn't bothered by us, though. As a big lump of metal we were not considered a danger. Her biggest enemies are lions, so she hunts during the day to stay out of their way.

When she started to eat, that was when I heard it: the purr, the constant purr. We were that close. I don't have a fancy camera with a mile long lens, mine is a three year old digital compact with 3.5x. So this is how close we really was.I wish I could have taped that purr.