WATCH: Baby impala hides behind Hilux to escape cheetah

Video footage shows how a baby impala’s heart just about beats out of its chest while trying to hide in front of a tourist’s car away from a hungry cheetah and her cub.

“We visit the Kruger only once a year and have had very few cheetah sightings in the past, especially ones including a hunt, so this was an incredibly rare moment for us,” Albert Le Roux said.

He said: “We were driving on the S28, near Lower Sabie, when we saw a couple of vehicles stationary along the roadside and stopped to join them. By the time we arrived, the baby impala was already separated from its mom. The impala was hiding in a small bush close to the road whilst the mother cheetah was observing how her cub could hunt.”

It was a training session, and she only helped when needed. She lured the impala away from the bush, allowing the cub to then snare it.

“The cub played with the impala for about 10 minutes before we started recording. By this time the impala had tried to hide in front of one of the vehicles.”

“We somehow knew what was about to happen next but were very excited to see it play out. The cheetahs began the game of hide and seek. On closer inspection, you could see the impala’s eye was bleeding, probably from all the scratching and biting from the cub,” added Le Roux.

Unfortunately for the poor buck luck was not on its side, and the cheetah, upon noticing the hiding spot, quickly ended its life.

– Caxton News Service