A series of photos show the sweet moment when a cheetah walked up to a wildlife photographer and gave him a hug. Another photographer caught the moment on film, showing how friendly these big wild cats can be. Even so, this lucky photographer has had the chance to cuddle with a wild cat.
Sasan Amir is a photographer from Germany. He was in South Africa visiting a wildlife sanctuary when a cheetah decided to surprise him in the cutest way possible. The 27-year-old photographer was concentrating on taking pictures when the big cat came up to him quietly and put its head on him.
“I slowed down, stood up, and looked at the cheetah to show it. I knew it was coming toward me,” Amir told CATERS NEWS. “The cheetah was curious and slowly walked up to me, sniffed me, and then started to purr and rub his head against me.”
The friendly cheetah caught the man completely off guard.
“It took me a few minutes to understand what a once-in-a-lifetime experience that was,” he said. “I had been to this sanctuary a few times and noticed that this cheetah was used to interacting with people.”
But Amir has been through something like this before. Since he’s been taking pictures of big wild cats for more than five years, he’s gotten very close to them. Still, he says that it takes a lot of time, patience, and respect for a wild animal to trust you in this way.
Amir told the METRO, “Once, a leopard was hiding in some thick bushes near me. He looked right at me and then slowly fell asleep.” “He realized that I wasn’t in any way dangerous to him, and I loved that he was so at ease with me.”
You can learn more about Amir’s once-in-a-lifetime experiences by following him on Instagram.
