
Filmmaker Boris von Schoenebeck became more and more confident in the company of two cheetahs who had made a habit of climbing on his jeep while he filmed in the wilds of the Serengeti in Tanzania.

But one day he got a little too close, and the young male of the pair let him him know with a gentle swipe with his right paw.

Thankfully for 47-year-old German Boris, the cheetah's strike wasn't the kind it would usually reserve for prey, and when he locked his jaws on something it was his GoPro camera rather than him.

A cheetah on the roof of a jeep in Serengeti, Tanzania, is captured on the roof of a vehicle by a GoPro camera

The bold cheetah stares down the barrel of filmmaker Boris von Schoenebeck's camera before taking a swipe at his camera

Boris's colleague, working for production company Earth Touch, isn't perturbed as the big cat jumps on the bonnet of their car

In the process of filming cheetahs for a documentary, a mature female and the young male had become increasingly comfortable with Von Schoenebeck and his assistant, so much so they had become regular visitors to their vehicle.

'Almost every day we would come across these two cheetahs who would climb on top of our vehicle,' he said.

'They use our vehicle as a place of higher ground.'

As the weeks went on I edged further and further out of the vehicle and we actually discovered that the cheetahs weren't that interested in us.

'At one point I got a little bit close to the male on the top of the roof and he took a swipe at the GoPro, and then he proceeded to chew on it.

Filmmaker and photographer Von Schoenebeck became increasingly comfortable with the pair of cheetahs who visited his car

The older female of the pair was a little more circumspect but the young male had no hesitation in jumping on the roof

Von Schoenebeck films the young male from up close before the moment he gets a little too close for comfort

Von Schoenebeck, who's spent most of his life in South Africa, said the cheetahs' presence on his vehicle eventually attracted safari guests.

'Tourists would often see us and within five minutes we would have 20 vehicles around us and we would have to stop filming - suddenly we would become the viewing point,' he said.

With such interest not conducive to filming his documentary about the world's fastest land animal, he took the chance to become more familiar with the cats.

One cheetah climbs onto the car via the spare tyre on the back before using the car as a vantage point to look over the grass plains

Boris got closer and closer to the cheetahs as their regular visits became more and more regular

The filmmakers became the attraction as tour guides brought safari tourists to see the cheetahs on their car

The majestic cats, the world's fastest land animal, make the most of the vehicle to get a view of their flat, expansive habitat

The visiting cheetah has had enough for the day and leaps gracefully from the roof of the vehicle

'It was just amazing to be able to get so close to two cheetahs, and for them to be so comfortable with us,' he explains. 'Normally we're looking at them 300m away.'

After the male cheetah got its nashers into his GoPro, one of many photographic devices at his disposal, Boris didn't seem too bothered.

Though he did admit: 'Maybe we need a new lens.'