Filmmaker gets rare close-up of cheetah... after big cat EATS camera

• Dec 31, 2014
• By Mark Hodge

Boris von Schoenebeck had been using a GoPro to observe a group of cheetahs in the Serengeti region of Tanzania

Earth Touch / Barcroft Media

Curious: Big cat takes a close look at the camera

A filmmaker got much closer to a wild cheetah than he ever expected after the big cat ATE his camera. Boris von Schoenebeck had been using a GoPro to observe a group of cheetahs in the Serengeti region of Tanzania. But one of the big cats used the camera as a chew toy after snatching it from the roof of Boris' jeep - and managed to take some great close-up pictures.

Boris said: “Almost every day we would come across these two cheetahs who would climb on top of our vehicle.They would use it as a vantage point – they seemed to love it. As the weeks went on I edged further and further out of the vehicle and we actually discovered that the cheetahs weren't that interested in us. At one point I got a little bit close to the male on the top of the roof and he took a swipe at the GoPro, and then he proceeded to chew on it. It was just amazing to get so close to the animals – it was quite special.”

German-born von Schoenebeck, who has spent most of his life in South Africa, said the cheetahs' presence on his vehicle eventually attracted safari guests. He said: "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.”

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