Mabula Private Game Reserve introduced first female cheetah

The Mabula Private Game Reserve in Limpopo has released a first female cheetah to the reserve in December 2013. This follows the successful release of two male cheetahs into the reserve in January 2012. The two brothers have been studied extensively in order to determine if they would adapt to their new home and to what extend they would impact their prey species. The results of the studies convinced the Mabula management to introduce a female to the property to join the two brothers.
The new female cheetah was born in the Southern Cape and came to the Mabula Private Game Reserve in November 2013 when she was 20 month old. She was placed in a boma in order for her to re-orientate herself to her new surroundings before she was introduced to the Mabula Private Game Reserve.

The Mabula Private Game Reserve is a private game reserve situated in the Limpopo province of South Africa. It is about 12,000 hectares in area and is about 45 km from Bela Bela (Warmbaths). The reserve is home to the Big 5, the Small 5 as well as to further sixty species of mammals and about three hundred bird species.

Cheetahs released in Mabula Private Game Reserve

Two male two-and-a-half-year-old cheetahs have been introduced to the Mabula Private Game Reserve in Limpopo. The reserve is about 12,000 hectares in area and is about 45 km from Bela Bela (Warmbaths). This is the first time cheetah have been introduced to the reserve.

View Larger Map

Both cats were born and grew up in the Sanbona Wildlife Reserve in the Western Cape and are completely independent from their mother and have been hunting on their own for at least six months. Before they were introduced into the Mabula Private Game Reserve, the cats spent some weeks in a boma to become familiar with their surroundings and to curb their instinct to run away, in an attempt to return to where they came from.