Here’s A Special Report on the cheetah of Samara from General Manager of the Reserve, Marnus Ochse from 2012:
Map of Samara in the Eastern Cape Region of South Africa
“It’s been an amazing 2 months with all 3 of our female cheetahs on Samara delivering some new cubs.
First up was Sibella that quietly disappeared into the mountains. After a few days of looking for her, Hayley and Test finally managed to get a signal pointing up in Wolwekloof to the top of the mountain.
To our amazement they found Sibella hidden away in the rocky outcrops with 2 very tiny cubs. The cubs and Sibella managed to survive the cold 2 winter months and we’ve found all 3 of them at the foot of the mountain with Sibella on a kudu kill and 2 healthy looking cubs. The cubs are still being hidden away when Sibella hunts, but they will start moving around more and more with Sibella.
Then in the beginning of July we heard our Master Tracker, Pokkie Benade calling us quite eagerly on the radio. He found a set of 4 different cheetah tracks, 1 adult and 3 cubs (around) 1.5 months old.
Our reserve manager Alan Feldon went out there to have a look to see in which direction they have moved, but with no luck of any visual on that day. With a lot of determination he managed to get a visual of her … with 3 healthy cubs in the southern part of the Reserve.
After releasing Belini in April 2012 we were all eager to see what her movements will be and in which area she will establish herself in. Within the first week we’ve found her on our far eastern boundary with a male. We didn’t think much of it as we knew Belini was still exploring. She started hunting well and managed to bring down big prey using the same technique being used by Sibella which is the ambush technique in the thick riverine bush. Towards the end of July we found Belini on an unusually big kudu kill with which she stayed for about 4 days. She disappeared into the northern part of the reserve and settled down there for about 2 days. Another 2 days passed and our rangers set out to find her again just to find her in exactly the same spot as 2 days ago. At this point we were really worried about her health, but after a close look where she was lying we manage to get visual of 1 cub maybe 1 day old. We immediately moved off to give her some space and to let the cub get a little bit older before we try and get footage. …
It is a real joy to see this species being able to flourish on Samara and we hope that the species’ numbers will just go from strength to strength in Africa.”
Excerpts from Samara.co.za/Blog
Related articles across the web
