Project Cheetah: More Set to Arrive From Botswana Soon, Plans Underway for Wildlife Corridor
While Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh was where the first two batches of cheetahs had arrived from Namibia and South Africa in September 2022 and February 2023, respectively, two cheetahs have now been moved from Kuno to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, also in the same state, along the Rajasthan border.
Nauradehi is likely to be the third site in the state where cheetahs will be introduced, Uttar Kumar Sharma, assistant principal chief conservator of forests and director of 'Project Lion', told The Wire . Plans are moving forward to introduce cheetahs across select central Indian states as per the Cheetah Action Plan, he said.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan will be part of a cheetah corridor that will link the Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve in the state with the parks of Kuno and Gandhi Sagar, as per a report by The New Indian Express . This corridor will span across a whopping 17,000 square kilometres, per the report. From Kuno to Gandhi Sagar
On April 20, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav released two male cheetahs brought in from South Africa – Prabhas and Pavak – into the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in the state, bordering Rajasthan. Gandhi Sagar is now the second site in the country, as well as in the state of Madhya Pradesh, to house African cheetahs that have been brought in as part of Project Cheetah. As per this programme, the Indian government aims to introduce African cheetahs into select grassland habitats in central India in an effort to reintroduce cheetahs to the country.
However, India was previously home to a different subspecies, the Asiatic cheetah. The animals went extinct in the country – the last of India's cheetahs were wiped out in the 1950s.
Speaking on the occasion, Yadav told PTI that the release happened because Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav wanted cheetahs to be released in a second site in the state as part of 'Project Cheetah'. As per a report by The Indian Express , the Cheetah Project Steering Committee cleared the translocation from Kuno to Gandhi Sagar – which are separated by 300 kilometers – in the second week of April.
The Madhya Pradesh forest department had already been making the wildlife sanctuary ready for cheetah introduction by fencing a part of the park. The two male cheetahs were released in this fenced portion of Gandhi Sagar – around 62 square kilometres in area – and the animals are doing well, APCCF Uttam Kumar Sharma told The Wire on May 5.
First cubs having a Namibian father Gaurav and S African mother Nirva. Kuno NP has been blessed with 5 precious new lives. Mother Nirva, 5-year-old brought from Mapesu Reserve, S Africa, has given birth to 5 beautiful cubs.
Congratulations to all. Cherish this beautiful moment!' pic.twitter.com/pljp0lqPMW
— Uttam Kumar Sharma (@Uttam_K_Sharma) April 27, 2025
There are also plans to introduce cheetahs into Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, making it the third site in the state where cheetahs will be introduced, Sharma told The Wire .
When asked about the villagers who will have to be displaced to make place for the cheetahs, Sharma said that villagers are already being moved out of the park because it is a tiger reserve. According to one report , six villages will have to be displaced because they now fall in the core zone of the tiger reserve; the expansion of the tiger reserve means that 90 villages in and around the reserve will need to be relocated. Local communities have been protesting this relocation for several years now also because the compensation they were to receive was very low , pegged at just Rs 15 lakhs.
There are plans to introduce cheetahs to the Banni grassland in Gujarat, as the prime minister announced while visiting Anant Ambani's Vantara (aka the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Center), Sharma said. Plans to introduce cheetahs across select central Indian states as per the Cheetah Action Plan are going ahead, he added. A cheetah corridor
Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav had launched the ' Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetah in India ' in January 2022 at the 19th meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority. As per the plan, around 50 African cheetahs are expected to roam select habitats in central India by 2026.
While the Action Plan identified Kuno as the most suitable among 10 contending sites, the other recommended sites for cheetah reintroduction included Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary-Bhainsrorgarh Wildlife Sanctuary complex, and the Mukundara Tiger Reserve and Shahgarh bulge in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
On April 29, chief minister Mohan Yadav told PTI that very soon Rajasthan too would be part of 'Project Cheetah'. According to a report by The New Indian Express , Rajasthan will be part of a cheetah corridor that will link the Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve in the state with the parks of Kuno and Gandhi Sagar.
This corridor will be spread across a whopping 17,000-square kilometres covering seven districts in Rajasthan (Kota, Bundi, Baran, Jhalawar, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, and Chittorgarh), per the report. An official Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to this effect is in the pipeline, the report noted, and the proposal is awaiting final approval from the chief ministers of both states.
The report also said that there are also plans to include parts of Uttar Pradesh – specifically the forest areas of Jhansi and Lalitpur – within the extended cheetah landscape. From Botswana to India
At the release of the two cheetahs in Gandhi Sagar on April 20, Mohan Yadav also said that India would likely receive four African cheetahs from Botswana in May, and that the cheetahs will likely be released in Gandhi Sagar.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority also announced this on April 19 – after a high-level review meeting of 'Project Cheetah' in the presence of union environment minister Bhupender Yadav – as per a report by The Times of India .
According to the report, the NTCA said that discussions are ongoing with Kenya and South Africa to bring in more cheetahs to India as well.
Notably, cheetah Nirva gave birth to five cubs in late April, taking the number of cheetahs in Madhya Pradesh to 31 now.
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