Elliot Schildkrout

The Cheetah and the Garden of Eden

The Serengeti in Tanzania is a vast open landscape of wonder and suprise. But it can also be endless miles of driving through valleys filled with grass, seeing an occasional gazelle or a nervous impala, twitching its fur to get rid of the flies and and avoid the ineviteable predator. From our anthropomorphic eyes, they almost seem to know or sense in some way that all impalas will die in a kill from a perdator in search of its weekly meal. Of course, all safari goers are looking for the hunt. But this cheetah taught me a far deeper lesson.