Africa Wild

Unfortunately the news is true - I was there myself today when they were darted... Will give more of an update soon but my understanding is that they will be transferred to Kuzuko for the time being.

Not even cheetahs are free to stay where they want to

We took an afternoon drive through the park today and came out on the open plains by the northern side of Mbotyi to find a lot of vehicles around... the cheetah were out in the open
It didn't take long before they were up and moving in the direction of Vukani, so we found a nice spot on the main access road and had a fantastic view of their approach







After crossing the road in front of us, they had their eyes firmly fixed on some distant kudu for a while and we were hoping for a hunt
It didn't materialise and they started to settle down again.



One of the HR vehicles was moving along the line of cars and informed us that they would be darting one of the cheetah in order to fit a tracking collar. Sure enough I recognised the vet, and before long he was taking aim



When the dart hit, there was an explosion of movement from the cheetah not surprisingly







We started moving off as it was quite a traffic jam by this point, when suddenly another dart was fired which resulted in yet more running from the other cheetah. We happened to be in a spot to see the last chap taking a drink on Vukani loop before he met the same fate



We heard that by this point the first cheetah had been loaded into a vehicle which sounded very strange... adding collars doesn't require that kind of handling. So it dawned on us that this was the dreaded capture and relocation that they had been threatening ever since these boys broke into the park a couple of years ago.
Quite why we were all informed that they were just fitting tracking collars is a mystery to me... why not just explain to people what is really happening

Anyway, the story I've heard so far is that they will be kept in a boma in the main Addo area for a while before being transferred to a boma over at Kuzuko and potentially released there

I'm gutted... they spoiled a pretty perfect sighting of them and the final one for most people on top of it...

And quite clearly they were not man enough to stand the possible thunderstorm they would have encountered had they told the truth about the intentions of the darting. Doesn't really raise confidence in them...

Feeling totally off, If it was not that late in the year and If I could have changed my booking, I would have . That was one of the draw cards why I booked Addo, I would rather see cheetah than lion

Great pics of the darting PJL. but just sad that you won't get to see them anymore.

Well....

They were taken to the boma yesterday which is situated just behind Rooidam. The exciting news this morning is that they escaped overnight

Good boys

Clever guys