'Cheeting' death: Fermanagh man in close encounter with big cat on Kenyan safari

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-33488240

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This was the moment a County Fermanagh man got a little bit too up-close and personal with a cheetah on a safari tour in Kenya.

Mickey McCaldin's heart-rate has only just returned to normal after his encounter with the curious cat that leapt into the vehicle and onto the seat beside him.

Just moments earlier it had been in hot pursuit of a gazelle that it and its siblings had spotted in the distance.

While Mr McCaldin was hoping to see some big game, he got much more than his money's worth after he, his sister and their two Kenyan friends spotted a family of cheetahs "sunning themselves and lazing about" on the plains last month.

He told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme that the mother jumped onto the canvas roof of the vehicle, landing "not six inches" from his head.

She was soon followed by three of her adolescent offspring.

"I sat very still and very quiet and watched the fourth offspring ambling back," Mr McCaldin said.

"He decided that the way to join his family on the roof was via the interior of the jeep.

"Initially when he was coming onboard I was quite happy to see him, but then he got to within six or nine inches of me and began to hiss.

"I suddenly realised these weren't tame animals."

The cheetahs remained on the roof and only jumped off when the tourists and driver inside pushed upwards on the canvas so they could continue their journey.

"I can tell you mum wasn't pleased about it, she started hissing and snarling, but eventually we dislodged them," Mr McCaldin said.

His friend David Horsey remained composed enough throughout to capture these remarkable photographs.

The images have been shared around the world, and Mr McCaldin says he has been told he has even appeared in newspapers in Australia and Japan.

"Various people have said this was a fake, 'you cut-and-pasted this', or 'you were a naughty boy, had a fillet steak there for it'," he said.

"But it was done in all innocence and it was not encouraged or enticed into that vehicle in any way.

"I've been lucky all my life."

For next year's holiday, he says he is planning a trip to the altogether less wild surrounds of County Antrim seaside town Portrush instead.