Once again, the ambitious Cheetah project has stalled. The two female have not yet arrived in the reserve. A lot of patience is required, until young Cheetah can be seen in Madikwe.

Three free roaming male Cheetah in the reserve, two male Cheetah in a boma prepared for a soon release, and waiting for the arrival of two female Cheetah. The situation has not changed in recent weeks.

“It’s never a straight forward thing when cheetah are involved”, says Declan Hofmeyr, Operations Manager in Madikwe. The transport of two young female Cheetah from Sanbona Wildlife Reserve to Madikwe should have taken place last month. What happened?

Liesl Eichenberger, Ecologist in Sanbona, comments: “Our amazing female Cheetah 64 is dead. It looks like the lions got hold of her.” Cheetah 64 was the mother of the two females earmarked for Madikwe. “This means we have to do some very important Cheetah planning for Sanbona and the metapopulation. Also the cubs are roaming free.”

After testing different options, it was decided to move at least one of the two young Cheetah as soon as possible. The female was recently put into the Sanbona boma. We still have to go through the procedure of getting the permit”, says Hofmeyr. “Western Cape normally take about three days, on the North West side it will take us about four weeks.” In the meantime, Madikwe will watch out to get a second female from somewhere else.

Once again we need a lot of patience, so that Cheetah male and female can finally roam free in Madikwe and - hopefully! - get cubs.