De Wildt Cheetah Tour is a half day / full day tour by Themba Day Tours & Safaris

Day Trip - De Wildt Cheetah Tour

Categories: Wildlife

De Wildt is a wildlife conservation project focusing on the preservation of endangered species, in particular the cheetah. Since 1974 Scientists at De Wildt have been studying and successfully breedin... [continued]

At a Glance

Tour Description

De Wildt is a wildlife conservation project focusing on the preservation of endangered species, in particular the cheetah. Since 1974 Scientists at De Wildt have been studying and successfully breeding cheetah and other rare animals for release into the wild. The station is set in the bushveld of Magaliesberg.

Cheetah Distribution in South Africa: Historically cheetah occurred through South Africa. Until recently cheetah only occurred in large protected areas such as the Kruger National Park and some adjacent private game reserves.

Currently cheetahs are been seen on farmland areas in the Limpopo Province, certain areas of the North West Province and in areas of the Northern Cape Province. It is thought that the growth in the game ranching industry is the main reason for this, as more habitat and more prey species become available due to the game ranching practices. Other large predators such as leopard, lion and spotted hyena are also not common any more, due to persecution by farmers. These large predators act as competitors to cheetah, and due to the eradication of these predators, cheetahs seem to be moving into areas where they have been previously exterminated by stock farmers. This is causing conflict between game farmers and cheetah as these cheetahs are preying on game species introduced by game farmers on these game farming areas.