Cheetah mistakes a Land Rover for a Jaguar

File this information away in your brain under the heading: What to do if a wild cheetah climbs in your car. The answer: Stay perfectly still, show respect by not looking directly at the cheetah, and if you can possibly keep your hands from shaking, roll some video.

Wildlife photographer Peter Heistein was in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania when, "A cheetah decided to explore our vehicle on a safari I was leading for Grand Ruaha Safaris," Heistein wrote. Here's his video, and we'll let him tell the story:

We like the explanation that the cat probably appreciated the commanding view from up high in the vehicle, which looks to be a Land Rover. Isn't that what a lot of SUV owners say?

Close Encounter Here’s a video clip from my last Safari: The video shows my stepson Britton Hayes who was on his first trip to Africa with his dad.. We had come across several cheetah who were taking a midday break. We stoped for lunch while observing them. After a time they got up and started to move in unison as we were photographing from the road. They moved diagonally across our field of view and as they neared the vehicle the two younger brothers broke off and came towards us. The cheetah makes use of high points such as termite mounds to scan the environment. Apparently we represented a unique scouting platform to them. Before we knew it, one jumped on the hood of the safari vehicle while the other made use of the spare tires out back to get into the rear window. Britt credits our experienced guide Alex Mnyangabe with helping him stay calm and asked me to film him. While Britt was frightened we never felt any threat coming from the cheetah. After a short exploration the three of them moved away to continue their hunt. An amazing experience we will never forget. My thanks to Grand Ruaha Safaris for bringing us to this unique encounter with the wild . . . #ig_shotz #worldshotz #natgeo #Grandruahasafaris #theworldshotz #splendid_animals #wildlifeonearth #wildlifeaddicts #natgeowild #natgeohub #natgeowildlife #africananimals #serengeti #exclusive_wildlife @peterheistein

A post shared by Peter Heistein (@peterheistein) on Mar 28, 2018 at 10:59pm PDT