First cheetah birth in Nairobi National Park for many years.

12/05/2009 10:37:10 By Will Knocker of Silole Sanctuary.
I know this is a tiny little image, but it is a real symbol of hope for the future of the The Nairobi National Park. Here is a mother & cub cheetah, the first birth and/or sighting in the park for many years, recorded & photographed by Dave McKelvie.

This picture illustrates a new reality: after many years of a wet cycle in the weather & in the absence of controlled burns, short grass plain habitat disappeared from the park, together with the gazelles & wildebeest which lived in such areas.

Controlled burning
Since the end of 2007 and the beginning of controlled burning in the park, together with the ongoing extended dry cycle coupled with a high level of overgrazing, especially in the dispersal area outside the park, there has been an influx of cattle into the park to compete for grazing with the thousands of migratory herbivores which have also taken refuge there, so all excess grazing has been severely reduced.

This complete change in circumstances have seen the last of the wildebeest in the ecosystem come back into the park (they calved in the park this year for the first time in living memory), together with hundreds of Grants & Thomsons gazelles, which are ideal food for cheetahs.