BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh’s largest tiger reserve, Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve (VDTR), became the first tiger reserve in the country to become home to African cheetahs under the ambitious Project Cheetah on Wednesday.
As state Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav released two Botswanan cheetahs — male Vyom and female Neera — into soft-release bomas (SRBs), VDTR in the state’s Bundelkhand region became the third home to cheetahs in the country and the third in Madhya Pradesh, after Kuno National Park (KNP) in northern MP and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in western MP.
While African and Indian-born cheetahs are already cohabiting with leopards in the free-ranging forests of KNP, the first home of African cheetahs in India, this will be the first time they will share a habitat with two other major co-predators — tigers and leopards. Once the cheetahs are released from the SRBs into the wilds of VDTR, they will also encounter wolves, another co-predator found in substantial numbers in MP’s largest tiger reserve.
Spread across more than 2,300 sq km in three districts — Sagar, Damoh and Narsinghpur — VDTR is home to around 30 tigers and 40 leopards, besides a substantial population of Indian grey wolves and dholes (Asiatic wild dogs).
The two Botswanan cheetahs shifted from KNP to VDTR on Wednesday will be joined by two more cheetahs at the same tiger reserve next month, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced at the wildlife event. The cheetah infrastructure created at VDTR’s Muhali Range currently has five SRBs, each capable of housing one cheetah.
Following the release of the two Botswanan cheetahs into two of the five SRBs in the Muhali Range of VDTR’s Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary on Wednesday, Botswanan cheetahs are now in focus under the country’s ambitious Project Cheetah.
Of the nine Botswanan cheetahs — six females and three males — flown to KNP in February 2025, a female named Radha was moved to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary on September 20, where she joined three South African cheetahs.
Recently, five cubs were born to KGP21, a 32-month-old Indian-born female cheetah. As their biological father is a Botswanan cheetah at KNP, the birth marked the beginning of the Botswanan lineage in India’s growing cheetah population.
The cheetah population in India has now grown to 60, including 41 Indian-born cheetahs.
The ambitious Project Cheetah, aimed at reintroducing the fastest land animal to India’s wilds 70 years after the species was declared extinct in the country due to rampant poaching, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday with the release of eight Namibian cheetahs at KNP in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district on September 17, 2022. Five months later, 12 South African cheetahs were released at KNP, followed by nine Botswanan cheetahs in February 2025.
