NEW DELHI: India’s plan to translocate 8-10 cheetahs from Botswana may get an official stamp during President Droupadi Murmu’s state visit to the African country. Riding on the success of previous translocation exercises from Namibia and South Africa, the fresh batch is most likely to arrive in Dec or Jan next year, depending on the timeline suggested by Botswana.Though both sides have been in talks for over six months, Murmu’s visit will give fresh impetus to the exercise under Project Cheetah, with the possibility of an announcement in her presence.8-10 cheetahs will arrive from Kenya next year
Murmu departed on Saturday for her visit to Angola and Botswana. This is the first-ever state visit by an Indian head of state to these nations. She will be in Botswana from November 11 to 13. “An exact number and date for translocation will be decided during the subsequent discussion,” said an official.Besides Botswana, the govt has been discussing the issue with two other African countries: Kenya and Namibia. A batch of 8-10 cheetahs will be translocated from Kenya next year, whereas Namibia, which had sent the first batch of eight to India in September 2022, has been kept in the loop for further strengthening India’s population of the famed big cat.At present, translocated Cheetahs are in the Kuno National Park (KNP) and the Gandhinagar Wildlife Sanctuary of Madhya Pradesh. Two more landscapes – Nauradehi wildlife sanctuary (Madhya Pradesh) and Banni grasslands (Gujarat) – are, meanwhile, being prepared. “The fresh batch of cheetahs from Botswana will either be relocated to KNP or Gandhisagar or at both the landscapes,” said the official.Currently, India has a total 27 cheetahs spread over two landscapes – KNP (24) and Gandhisagar (3). Eleven (six females and five males) of them are those who arrived in India during the first two batches in 2022 and 2023 whereas 16 of them are those who were born in India. First batch of eight cheetahs (three male and five female) arrived in India from Namibia on September 17, 2022 while 12 others (seven male and five female) arrived from South Africa on Feb 18, 2023. Eleven of these 20 survived. Though 26 cubs were born in KNP in India, only 16 survived.
