LIMPOPO – This occurrence managed to restore the population of the species that had in some parts of Malawi, been declared extinct some 20 years ago.
The cheetahs were taken from four reserves; the Mountain Zebra National Park, Amakhala Private Game Reserve, Phinda Private Game Reserve and Welgevonden Private Game Reserve and flown to the park in a FlyUlendo and Robin Pope Safaris sponsored light aircraft. The cheetahs now have more than 300,000 hectares of roaming space.
The cheetahs immediately set about feasting on the copious prey and were spotted mating on Chinguni Hill, the highest point in Liwonde and this is according to EWT Cheetah Metapopulation Coordinator Vincent van der Merwe, a conservation milestone and an indicator of the manner in which a cheetah can easily adapt to new environments.
Vincent who is the recent recipient of a SANParks Kudu Award for conservation, explained the manner in which the South African cheetah population reached its peak without a fair and safe amount of space for its occupation. Due to this development, the EWT and African Parks collaborated in planning a reintroduction of this species in the Liwonde National Park. He was however concerned on the adaptive nature of the animals as he spotted hyenas, parasites and other inhabitants which are not inherent to the South African borders.
He has to date overseen the growth of the metapopulation project from 217 cheetahs on 41 reserves to 336 on 55 reserves, this growth is however facilitated by his association with the SANParks reserve management.
The EWT Metapopulation Project is an initiative which moves wild cheetahs across a myriad of different vegetation types with a vast number of climatic variables, ensuring the genetic viability of the threatened species. The African Parks, a non-profit conservation organisation, takes on the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks alongside governments and local communities, having the largest counter-poaching force and protection from various NGO’s in Africa, the organisation manages 12 national parks in eight countries covering a vast space of about seven million hectares.
According to Vincent’s PhD research, bounties were claimed for a number of 4268 leopards and cheetahs killed in the Cape Colony during the years 1889 and 1956. With the assistance of SANParks, African Parks, EZEMVELO and 39 other privately owned game reserves, this conservation journey has become a success.
