A female cheetah sits on the roof of a jeep in Maasai Mara, Kenya. [Photo/CFP]

A photographer trying to capture wildlife in Africa got a little too close to his subject when a wild 54-kg cheetah jumped on to his Land Cruiser to hitch a ride. Big cats are known to climb the highest point available, usually a termite mound, to spot their prey, but this clever mother-cheetah was so determined to find food for her cubs that she jumped onto the roof of a moving Land Cruiser.

Photographer David Lloyd, originally from New Zealand, but living in the UK was trying to capture wildlife in the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya when he picked up the unexpected hitch-hiker. The 10,000 wild cheetahs that survive in Africa are classified as being vulnerable by wildlife experts. While they used to roam across Africa, their population has declined by as much as 75-percent in the last 100-years and they are thought to be extinct in North African countries such as Egypt.

Scientists are puzzled by the decline of the cheetah, and it is thought that low-genetic diversity could be the cause. However, the Masai Mara is known as the playground of cheetahs, where they can run up to 100-km-per-hour to catch their prey. Smaller that lions, cheetahs usually hunt small antelopes such as impalas, however they have been known to bring down animals as large as zebras and wildebeest.