Normally when we are filming natural history footage a collared animal is the last thing you want to see – it breaks the illusion that you are filming in a remote wilderness, untouched by man.

However, in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park we were fortunate enough to be filming a cheetah documentary with scientists Margie and Gus Mills. The cheetahs they were studying were all collared, so no illusion was broken and it made them a lot easier to find!

The expansive red dunes of the Kgalagadi at first glance appear barren until you look closer and realise they are teeming with cryptically camouflaged animals – steenbok and scrub hares can be found under almost every tussock of grass, making it the perfect hunting ground for Africa’s quickest predator.

We found this male out patrolling his territory, stopping every now and then to climb a tree and smear secretions from his scent gland upon the bark before nimbly jumping back down to spray the trunk. Leaving a clear warning to any would-be intruders.

© This video belongs to the Southern African Natural History Unit.