CHEETAH ON NATURES TIME
We were on our final day at a safari campsite on the crater of Ngorangora in Tanzania. Our driver stopped the jeep and reached for his binoculars. He scanned the horizon of the grassland. Minutes passed and then he finally announced with utter delight: “Cheetah! It’s probably a female; she’s alone.” While disappointed that it was not the lion pride we had been in pursuit of, we were swept into the moment of excitement from our guide.
The elegant spotted cat was some ways off, camouflaged in the tall grass with only its head exposed when it stretched to view its prey. We slowly moved our sights with our binoculars, and found the source of the spotted cat’s interest; a small group of gazelles, dozing in the baking sun. As the fastest mammal on earth – capable of running at a speed of up to 112 kilometers per hour – cheetahs are phenomenal hunters. The cheetah is well aware of its limitations however, as it can only run a few hundred meters at full speed before overheating. It must topple its prey quickly, or give up. We watched as this cheetah strategically inched her way closer to the unsuspecting antelope. She would crawl five meters at a time, then quietly sit for a time. While we could only catch small glimpses of this flexible, long-limbed hunter, we were captivated by her patient instinctual behavior. Before we knew it, an hour had passed. We had lost all notion of time and were living in the moment following nature’s clock. The cheetah inched closer to her prey, every muscle in her body taught with anticipation.
Suddenly, an adult gazelle, now just a short distance away, became alert. The group had sensed danger. The herd became animated and immediately moved into a frenzied run, jumping and bouncing on their hoof tips. The cheetah’s ears went back and she sprang into action, exposing her presence. There was a period of chaos where the cheetah attempted to reach her target. However, her plan was foiled. The cheetah stopped abruptly and stood motionless while catching her breath. She seemed to accept short-term and set her sights on the next possible opportunity for a meal.
The cheetah demonstrated a set of opposite energies in order to survive. She had the ability to tune into her surroundings, to be receptive, open, and trusting with her surroundings. In this state of being she had no sense of time, only a willingness to connect and accept. On the other hand, she instinctually knew when to use her natural capacity to move quickly in a way that required her to act with focus, aggressiveness, persistence and the willingness to risk. Most importantly the cheetah and all other living beings in nature, can instinctively switch from one set of energies to the other in order to survive.
I found myself consumed by this unfolding experience and wanted to follow this cheetah all day. But, we were again reminded by our friend in the jeep of the goal of finding that lion pride as he felt even more pressured as the time was limited before dusk set in. We never did accomplish our original goal we had set for the day to find that particular pride of lions but I was more than grateful for what we did receive.
As I became consumed in the timeless world of the cheetah, and then compared it to our clocked time, with all our technology and speed, the experience was very different. Nature engages her inhabitants to fit in with her rhythm. As with all living things within a natural ecosystem, the cheetah sets its internal clock according to nature’s pace and rhythm. Thomas Merton wrote “There is on all things… a hidden wholeness.” Capturing the moments of possibility in our daily lives will allow us to see the hidden wholeness.