The ambitious new cheeath project of Madikwe reached another milestone this week. On Monday, 30 November 2015, two cheetah males were successfully introduced into the reserve.

The ultimate goal is still the same. Madikwe wants to build its own cheetah population. A new plan was defined, according to which the four cheetah brothers needed to be replaced in a first step. This is a condition that cheetah females will have a chance to survive. They are expected to arrive in February next year. We have reported on this very difficult project regularly. (see details here)

On Saturday 28 November 2015, the four male cheetah coalition was caught and translocated to Phinda and Welgevonden. The captures and translocations went very well and the cats have all settled into their new environments.

At the same time, the two male cheetahs from Sable Ranch which were accustomed in a boma to their new habitat for about two motnhs, were released into the reserve on Monday 30 November (see the spectacular short video from the release in this blog. Madikwe’s Conservation department will monitor them closely. Since feeding the night before they became mobile at about sunrise. Today they were found later in the vicinity of Tlou dam.

Lastly, the two male cheetah from Phinda arrived in Madikwe and were introduced into a boma next to Tau dam on 1 December.  These cats are well habituated to vehicles and therefore our guests will be allowed to see them on game drives.

For Rhulani Safari Lodge this is fantastic news. We support this project and will publish further information soon