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Where Big Cats Roam Once More: How

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

and grasslands, rivers and streams, mountains and valleys span the reserve, providing habitats and grazing for herbivores (around 20 antelope species live in the reserve today) and megaherbivores such as elephants. “Little by little, we’ve introduced the pieces of the puzzle of what this ecosystem would have looked like,” says Isabelle.

With plentiful prey, predators could be reintroduced. In 2003, cheetahs were brought back to the area for the fi rst time in 130 years. Of the fi rst three individuals, female Sibella became a symbol of Samara and its success. At the age of two she suff ered a savage attack by hunting dogs

Once cheetah territories were fi rmly 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 fi rst litter now occasionally hunting on their own, say the Tompkins. amara in 2003 starting with three cheetahs, the population has grown considerably. Productions)/Samara Private Game Reserve “Lions being the apex predator, they were always going to have a big impact,” Tompkins says. Returning lions to the land has changed the dynamic of Samara. There are now more carcases for jackals to scavenge on, meaning less predation of springboks, resulting in an uptick in their population. On the other hand, black wildebeest are producing more young, say the Tompkins, perhaps as a reaction to lions preying on the species. The rewilding program has proved so successful that Samara has even seen a species return of its own accord: the leopard. Leopards can jump fences, and in April 2021 a large male was spotted inside the reserve and repeatedly seen

on camera traps in subsequent months. “(It) is incredibly exciting and means that the conditions are right again for its survival,” said Isabelle and Sarah Tompkins in an email.

“We don’t have the luxury of not being ambitious about this”

Samara Private Nature Reserve funds its rewilding eff orts through its tourism operations. Visitors can stay at the reserve in lodges or even sleep beneath the stars, and partake in luxury safaris and cheetah tracking,

with all earnings reinvested into its various

programs. But perhaps its greatest plan extends beyond Samara’s borders. The reserve is involved in a long-term initiative to create a land corridor linking the Karoo’s Camdeboo National Park and Mountain Zebra National Park, opening up historical migratory routes and returning more land to nature. The Tompkins say it has the potential to be arguably “the last great mega-reserve in South Africa” covering 1.3 million acres (over 526,000 hectares). The area is one of 36 global biodiversity hotspots, but will rely on voluntary agreements with private landowners to manage the area in an environmentally friendly manner, rather than involve land purchases by the government body overseeing national parks. Thinking big has always been part of Samara’s ethos, but there’s added urgency provided by the United

Nation’s ongoing Decade of

Ecosystem Restoration. The initiative says that restoring Around 50 cheetah cubs have been born in the reserve since the just 15% of converted lands in animal was reintroduced. priority areas worldwide could Courtesy David Niederberger/Samara Private Game Reserve avoid 60% of expected species extinctions, along with myriad

Karoo Lodge Samara Private Game R

A young cub alongside an adolescent male. The fi rst cubs to be born at Samara in nearly 200 years are now approximately two years old.

climate and livelihood-related benefi ts.

“We’re running out of time,” Isabelle says, citing the UN’s goals. “This to me is why it’s so urgent. It has to happen. We don’t have the luxury of not being ambitious about this.”

Nevertheless, she’s optimistic about the future. “I think that if human beings can focus on their sphere of infl uence, and on making a diff erence in their own little backyard (positive change will come),” she adds. “Our backyard just happens to be 27,000 hectares.” www.cnn.com/travel/article/samara-south-africareserve-big-cats-lion-cheetah-c2e-spc-intl Image credits: Geothermal Spa Kenya| Facebook, kengensrbs.co.ke, karibu.mambozuri. com

Video credits: Stefanie Blendis and Jo Munnik

Sarah and Isabelle Tompkins.

Courtesy Sacha Specker (Black Bean Productions)/ Samara Private Game Reserve

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