Following the lives of Cheetahs on Cheetah Diaries

February 28th, 2021

Every Sunday at 5:30 PM EAT on Kenya’s popular broadcasting channel Citizen TV airs wildlife documentaries anticipated by viewers across the country. The My Wild Africa series by WildlifeDirect and Wildlife Warriors TV brings high-quality wildlife documentaries produced in Africa. In February, Kenyans followed the lives of cheetahs in training to be ambassador animals of their species in the third season of cheetah diaries.

The Cheetah Outreach in South Africa, a place where dogs and cats work together as conservationists. Where are you watching from? Today, there are only an estimated 7,100 cheetahs left in the wild according to the @IUCN Red List. The primary reason for the cheetah’s decline is the shrinking range due to habitat loss throughout Africa. The Cheetah Outreach’s education program provides children in South Africa from all backgrounds with the opportunity to learn about cheetahs. Meeting the cheetahs is a powerful educational tool.

In this season, there is a huge cheetah litter of new cubs. We found out whether this would be a challenge for the carers as we also discover what it takes to raise cheetah cubs to be ambassadors of their species at the Cheetah Outreach in South Africa. One of the older cheetah ambassadors, Chobe, has to say goodbye to his brothers who are leaving Cheetah Outreach to become overseas ambassadors.

We also learnt about the Cheetah Outreach livestock guarding dog program which has placed dogs in cheetah range areas in South Africa to help mitigate human-wildlife conflict. The livestock guarding dogs, a Turkish breed, the Anatolian shepherd, was originally bred to protect livestock from bears and wolves. The livestock guarding dogs are given to farmers when they are puppies and are raised exclusively with the flock or herd protecting the livestock from a variety of predators such as cheetahs, leopards and caracals. By deterring predators, the livestock guarding dogs prevent farmers from poisoning or trapping predators.

Another Cheetah ambassador is Joseph who becomes a star for a magazine cover. We watch as a ballerina gains the courage to be able to perform next to a big cat.

At the Cheetah Outreach’s, the education program provides children in South Africa from all backgrounds with the opportunity to learn about cheetahs. Meeting the cheetahs is a powerful educational tool.

We are grateful to Off the Fence, Citizen TV and WWF-Kenya who have made this series possible. If you would like your film to be featured on My Wild Africa, reach out to Victoria Wangui at victoria@wildlifedirect.org.