However, recently he got a bit too close, and the young male, accompanied by his mom, gently swiped the camera away with his right paw. Fortunately for von Schoenebeck, the cheetah didn’t swat him in the same way it might swat an impala or other dinner item, MailOnline reports.
Von Schoenebeck and his crew were filming cheetahs in Ndutu, Tanzania when the cheetahs decided to use their jeep as a higher vantage point. The young male and his mom visited daily, observing the cameraman and his crew as they filmed the cheetahs, The Independent reports.
The filmmaker watched helplessly as the cheetah chomped the GoPro, but fortunately only the lens was destroyed, perhaps leaving von Schoenebeck with an extra souvenir, along with the footage from the encounter.
“It was really special that they were so close – within touching distance. Normally, looking at them, you’re like 300 metres away from us,” he said. “They would climb on top of our vehicle and use it as a place of higher ground.”
The sight of the magnificent big cats on his vehicle attracted crowds of tourists keen on getting a look, he told UPI.com.
“Tourists would often see us and within five minutes we would have 20 vehicles around us and we would have to stop filming – suddenly we would become the viewing point,” he said.
Other than his GoPro being used as a chew toy, he felt lucky to have the experience, he told MailOnline.
“It was just amazing to be able to get so close to two cheetah and for them to be so comfortable with us,” he said. Gradually edging himself out of the vehicle, he would get closer a little bit at a time. That’s when the cheetah decided to get up close and personal; an experience von Schoenebeck will almost certainly never forget.
