A cheetah rehabilitation project has been started on a farm neighbouring the Nambiti Private Game Reserve, near Ladysmith in KwaZulu Natal. This project offers guests the opportunity to interact with Shadow and Savannah, two young female cheetah.
A third cheetah, Mikka, a two-year-old male from the Kalahari, is housed in a separate enclosure and can be viewed but no interaction is offered yet.
The two female cheetah were born in the Nambiti Private Game Reserve but were rejected by their mother. They were removed and taken to De Wildt Cheetah Trust where they were hand reared before they returned home to initiate this rehabilitation, breeding, interaction and educational project.
The cheetah interaction activity offers guests a chance to interact on a one-on-one basis inside the enclosure with the two females. The session starts with a talk about their history and the planned conservation projects and goals for the future followed by the interaction session.
The long-term goal of the project is to breed with these three cheetah and introduce their offspring back into the wild to help repopulate the dwindling numbers of this endangered species. The male and two females will not be reintroduced into the Nambiti Reserve because, having been hand reared, they will be easy prey.
