A closer photo of Cheetah as she wakes up from her nap. She has sleepy eyes, and mud on her face from a brief altercation in the creek bed with a curious, young male bear. Unlike with the male bear, Cheetah had no problem getting very close to us humans. She had walked right up to us earlier, and then later settled down near us to take a nap in the grass.
Cheetah has spent much of her life around bear viewing tourists and has become comfortable with their presence. She is quite respectful when approaching people, and will immediately halt and veer away if you tell her “that’s close enough” or “no”. I’m still trying to figure out how to tell her “don’t come any closer, but don’t run off either!”