Luxury African safari company, Ker & Downey Africa, has launched a 13-day cheetah conservation safari in South Africa, where travellers can learn about the conservation of the world’s fastest land mammal and Africa’s most endangered big cat.
According to the Ker & Downey Africa website, the itinerary includes tracking wild cheetahs on foot through the Great Karoo, and visits to two cheetah sanctuaries in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The trip begins with three days in Cape Town, where travellers will spend a morning at the Ashia Cheetah Sanctuary. Here they will learn about the reintroduction of cheetahs from the sanctuary into game reserves and national parks, along with various research programmes. Travellers will also have an opportunity to witness the big cats running in a field during their exercise schedule.
The second leg of the trip will be spent at Samara Private Wildlife Reserve in the Eastern Cape, which was the first reserve to reintroduce a wild cheetah into South Africa’s Great Karoo region in 125 years and is considered to be one of the most successful cheetah sanctuaries in South Africa.
Travellers will spend four days at the reserve and learn about conservation and how the research works. They will also be able to take part in a cheetah tracking experience.
The next two days will be spent in Johannesburg, during which an afternoon will be spent at the Ann Van Dyk Cheetah Centre in Hartbeespoort, a non-profit conservation and research organisation. An informative guided tour in an open-safari vehicle through the cheetah camps will be conducted at the centre.
On the final leg of the itinerary, travellers will spend three nights in the Sabi Sands Reserve.