Cheetah Conservation Fund

Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research, Cheetahs | Date: May 25 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

The day has finally come. The boys moved far enough away today and not wanting to wait any longer, I let Tisha and Shanti out. Well, to be precise they let themselves out. After a morning of checking and double checking that the boys wouldn’t come back, I cut the fence at around 14:00 on 24th May.

Paul and I waited up on the hill in the pen and Abraham, Paul #2 and Willem waited by the feeding site. We all hoped to see the girls run off into the sunset. So we waited and waited. And the others went home and Paul and I waited and waited but to no avail. At one stage I finally saw Shanti but she was watching us, and we were fairly well concealed I thought. Once we moved again behind some rocks, she was still watching us. Finally, after wedging down in to a crevice and not moving for about an hour, she walked over towards the small pan there, but just sat down. Just before the light went completely she moved down to where I think Tisha was resting but they never went for the food.

So, I rushed home and got the night vision goggles and went back out to try again. The problem is, it was a New Moon and pitch black out there. You need to be within 300m to see with the goggles so there was no hope. I left them to leave on their own and came back about an hour later to check up on them.

They’re free!!!!! They’ve left, and taken the meat which I left for them which I’m very pleased with (it was an extra larger portion, probably 4-5kgs each just in case…)

Now, they’ve gone off in different directions but where still very close. They’re probably still eating so I’m not unconvinced they won’t meet up again afterwards to head further out into the wild. I left them soon after as I didn’t want to scare them off their food.

Tomorrow will be a long day; I’ll be starting before it gets light so we have as much time as possible to track them and the boys…

Ok, off to bed. Thanks to everyone for their help and let’s see where these crazy girls drag me. Story of my life actually. Hmm. Later

James
NamibRand Nature Reserve
Cheetah Re-introduction Programme

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Category: Cheetah - General, Cheetah - Research | Date: May 07 2009 | By: cheetahconservation

The boys again ranged towards the mountains a few days ago, but fortunately the lure of the girls seems to be continuing to hold their interest and after scaring our observers for a few hours, they returned to the pens.   Close to the park HQ/farmhouse they made a pretty spectacular kill, although alas it was overnight and no one witnessed it.  The following morning however it rapidly became clear that they’d finally managed to bring down their long sought-after zebra!  A young one, but nonetheless an impressive achievement.  They were Very fat after that for several days.

As April turned into May, they made a hunting trip back out onto the pan once more.  It is a good place to hunt at the moment, with very large herds of game available and it is a nice long way away from any of the park boundaries.  The only catch they appeared to have made however was a springbok, but nonetheless it will keep them going.

On the female front, Tisha and shanti are both starting to show interest in the boys.  They are not yet approaching the fence-line, but they clearly are aware of the boys movements, and are often to be found watching them intently.  They both seem a lot more comfortable now that they are in the big 50 ha pen.

            Rob

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