Cats Roam Once More: mily’s Rewilding Project Lions and Cheetahs to a uth Africa’s Great Karoo By Tom Page
and humans, and was brought to Samara after life-saving surgery and rehabilitation. At her new home she would give birth to 20 cubs and raise all but one to adulthood, before dying of natural causes in 2015. Some 50 cubs have been born at the reserve, and Samara’s population has become substantial enough that many are translocated to other reserves and national parks through the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Cheetah Metapopulation Project. Other cheetahs are brought to Samara in return, all in an effort to boost genetic diversity.
Return of the King
Once cheetah territories were firmly established, the climate was right to bring back lions -- a momentous step for both Samara and the area of the Great Karoo. Male Titus and female Sikelele were introduced in January 2019, and female Sheba followed soon after. Two years later and Sikelele has given birth to two litters, Sheba one, with the reserve’s first litter now occasionally hunting on their own, say the Tompkins. “Lions being the apex amara in 2003 starting with three cheetahs, the population has grown considerably. predator, they were always Productions)/Samara Private Game Reserve going to have a big impact,” Tompkins says. Returning lions to the land has changed and grasslands, rivers and streams, mountains and valleys span the reserve, providing the dynamic of Samara. There are now more habitats and grazing for herbivores (around 20 carcases for jackals to scavenge on, meaning antelope species live in the reserve today) and less predation of springboks, resulting in an uptick megaherbivores such as elephants. “Little by in their population. On the other hand, black little, we’ve introduced the pieces of the puzzle wildebeest are producing more young, say the of what this ecosystem would have looked like,” Tompkins, perhaps as a reaction to lions preying on the species. says Isabelle. The rewilding program has proved so successful With plentiful prey, predators could be that Samara has even seen a species return reintroduced. In 2003, cheetahs were brought back to the area for the first time in 130 years. Of of its own accord: the leopard. Leopards can the first three individuals, female Sibella became jump fences, and in April 2021 a large male was a symbol of Samara and its success. At the age of spotted inside the reserve and repeatedly seen two she suffered a savage attack by hunting dogs
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29 | ABA Publications | Africa TRAVEL | March 2022
