Posted January 23, 2025 in News
Cheetah arrives at UmPhafa Nature Reserve!
The long awaited day has arrived and after nearly three years, UmPhafa Nature Reserve has finally been able to introduce cheetah!
After a long anticipated wait, the team at UmPhafa Nature Reserve finally received the exciting call that the transport permits were in place and a female cheetah would be arriving soon. On 20th January 2025, the Reserve team were delighted to welcome a new female cheetah aptly named Ashia, after her donors, Ashia Cheetah Conservation, into the prepared bonding boma ahead of releasing onto the Reserve.
Back in April 2024, we announced that UmPhafa’s cheetah permit was approved after a two-year-long process and the Reserve was ready to start introducing the species.
In conjunction with the Cheetah Advisory Committee (CAG) and Ashia Cheetah Conservation, in September 2024, UmPhafa were able to move forward with these permits to introduce a female and male cheetah to the Reserve. As the Reserve had an existing bonding boma which was previously used for wild dogs, this was the perfect area for this new species to settle into their new home.
Ashia was born at Phinda Private Game Reserve on 15th June 2022. Unfortunately, she was orphaned at a young age when her mother sadly passed away. Since then, she has been cared for by Ashia Cheetah Conservation, who have closely monitored her over the past couple of years. Now that she is old enough to hunt on her own, she is ready to be released.
For the next few weeks, Ashia will be staying in UmPhafa’s boma in order to get accustomed to her new home, before being released on to the Reserve. Since arriving, she has been very calm and was quick to settle down with her first meal of Impala.
“It was a real feeling of achievement and excitement after 3 years of hard work to have the opportunity to finally release our first cheetah on to UmPhafa. It was an incredibly fulfilling moment as I watched her explore her new home.”
Amanda Warren, Reserve Manager at UmPhafa Nature Reserve
The team at UmPhafa Nature Reserve are very excited to be able to release her onto the Reserve in the next few weeks and will continue to monitor her progress as she explores her new home. Then in a few months time, she will be joined by two male cheetahs.
Keep an eye on our website and social media pages to hear more about how Ashia is getting on in her new home at UmPhafa Nature Reserve.
