Impala Jumps Into Car To Get Away From Cheetah Chasing After It

Apr 30, 2020 by apost team

Out in the wild, every being has to do what they can to stay alive. When one impala at the Kruger National Park in South Africa was chased by a predatory cheetah, it hid in the first place it saw available: a tourist car.

The amazing moment was captured on camera by Samantha Pittendrigh, who was riding in the car behind. 

A group of South African girls was visiting the largest park in South Africa, Kruger National Park, and sitting in their car on the road. The park serves as a wildlife preserve and tourist attraction. It is home to some of the most exciting big animals still alive in Africa.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Pittendrigh said she and the rest of the tourists present were "completely freaking out."

"We started freaking out going crazy. We couldn't believe it - we were absolutely dumbstruck," she said. "We had absolutely no idea what was going on."

"We watched the cheetah chasing the impala. We saw a few of them turn around in the bushes towards the road they were running from."

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The footage shows an impala leaping from into the car in front of as it ran desperately from two cheetahs. The impala was just a few seconds from being snatched by the predators when the window presented itself as an escape route. 

"All of a sudden we saw the impala jump out of the bushes and then someone started screaming 'it is in the car, it is in the car'," Pittendrigh recalled. "We heard a little girl screaming in the car. The boy sitting outside the car filming looked a lot younger, so it must have been a family."

"People in other cars screamed 'open the door, open the door'."

One of the passengers eventually opened the door and let the antelope into safety before being released back into the wild shortly after. Pittendrigh, who was a student at the time of filming, said she had visited the park on many occasions prior, but never had an experience like this. 

"My family are so jealous," she boasted. "In all the years my parents have been going to Kruger Park they have never seen anything like it and we do go regularly. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime thing and we managed to be in the right place at the right time."

Surprisingly, this dramatic moment is only the first 15 seconds of this not quite minute-long clip. The rest of this short clip replays these dramatic events at least twice. It is replayed with an explanatory voice-over.

In the end, you can see an open door on the parked SUV ahead. Then the antelope walks away from the other side of the vehicle.

What did you think of the video? Have you ever seen an animal so narrowly escape a predator? Let us know in the comments – and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!