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They only exist as a fragmented population in a few South African countries. I got the opportunity to photograph three protected dogs at the reserve. We are fortunate that there are places that are working to conserve and reintroduce these amazing animals.

The family of cheetahs that we photographed were particularly used to humans. The mother had been moved several times to try and find a home for her. She was in route to be moved again when they found out that she was pregenant with four cubs. Typically we wouldn't be allowed to get this close to any of the wild animals on the reserve. But as part of the conservation effort, these cats had a lot of previous human contact and were very docile around humans.

The leopard's name is Honey. She has had a radio collar on her for ten years but our guides think she's fifteen or sixteen years old. The radio collars help animals living in conservation areas by keeping them from straying into areas where they are in danger or could be poached. Having been in the reserve for so long, she is fairly used to humans and we got to watch her hunt. Seeing her climb up on a tree during sunset