How’s about this for a total once in a lifetime shot – an impala literally jumps into a tourist’s car window to escape pursuit from two cheetah!
The stationary Toyota was full of tourists enjoying a leisurely safari drive through the Kruger National Park in South Africa, when the impala dived into the open rear window to avoid certain death at the hands of the cheetah. The video is slowed down above to show the graceful creature making the leap.
The quick thinking passengers opened the door to release the impala, which amazingly was captured on video by the car behind. To see this once is amazing but to also capture it live is really something else.
The impala antelope grows to 95cm and around 60kg, which is a pretty hefty weight to have land on your lap! The leaping you can see from the impala herd in the video above is designed to confuse predators. And impalas can jump over 10 meters (33 feet) in length and up to 3 meters (9 feet) into the air, making an open car window a breeze!
The Kruger National Park was established in 1898 and became a designated National Park in 1926. Today it is one of the biggest safari parks in Africa with travellers drawn to the Big Five animals, as well as the Big Six Birds. The Big Five consist of rhino, lion, leopard, Cape buffalo and African elephant. Part of the Kruger is designated a UNESCO Biosphere and the reserve is home to the African Wild Dog which is endangered. In addition there are also wildebeest, hyena and giraffe in the Kruger National Park, as well as black mamba snakes, Zambezi shark and over 3,000 crocodiles. A team of 650 game rangers patrol the park to prevent poaching, utilising drones to monitor the situation.
