Narrator’s voice (preferably David Attenborough) – this won’t end well for the humble impala.

Spoiler alert – it didn’t.

25-year-old Michael Tilley, a game ranger at MalaMala Game Reserve, is responsible for the great footage you’ll see below.

Together with guests on a drive, he watched on as a young impala sauntered (strolled, ambled, take your pick) right into three waiting cheetahs.

Michael described what happened to LatestSightings:

“The cheetahs slowly started to get active, with the two sub-adults grooming and playing about. We followed them as the mother began to lead them further south from where they were located. Anticipation was growing on the vehicles as it seemed the mother was heading towards a large open area where, hopefully, there would be some prey species gathered.”

“Aware of what could potentially unfold, we circled ahead and spotted some impala milling about at the southern tip of the open area. With the cheetah emerging on the northern edge, we positioned our vehicles on the eastern ridge of the open area so as to not disturb any potential hunting situation. The cheetah settled down on a large termite mound to weigh up their options, but the reality was that there was still a large distance between them and the impala, and the chances of a successful hunt didn’t appear very high at all.”

That situation changed rapidly when the impala delivered itself on a plate, and a chase ensued:

Pretty neat, right?

There was almost a fourth cat thrown into the equation:

“The cheetah began feeding, but the sighting was far from over. As it turns out, we were not the only ones watching this hunt unfold, as a young female leopard was sitting atop a termite mound on the western edge of the open area.

There was no interaction between the cheetah and the leopard, however later that morning it was reported that a male lion (one of the Gowrie Males) chased the three cheetahs off of the remains of the kill. MalaMala madness!”

And a fifth.

Five cats, three species, one dead impala.

Nature at its finest.

[source:latestsightings]