| We visited the Makulu Makete Cheetah Conservation project, just over the border in South Africa. They are attempting to reintroduce three captive-born cheetahs into the wild. Currently they are held in a large enclosure, called a boma, where they are learning to survive on their own. First we saw Phoenix, the female, who was pacing around her enclosure. She had previously been released, was successfully killing regularly and looking after herself, but they decided to capture her again to introduce her to two males they had just acquired, Chaos and Mayhem, who are in an adjoining boma. At first the males stayed out of sight in the centre of their boma. Our guide, Narinda, went into the male cheetahs' enclosure and dragged an antelope leg around. The two cheetahs followed her, grabbing at the leg, and were lured to the front of the boma where we could get a good view of them through the electrified fence. |
