Kuno National Park reopens for tourists

Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh has once again opened its gates to tourists after the annual monsoon closure. However, visitors eager to catch a glimpse of the park’s famed cheetahs, imported from Namibia and South Africa, will need to wait a little longer.

Although the park is home to 24 cheetahs, they have not yet been released into the wild as part of a government initiative to reintroduce the species to India, where they went extinct over 80 years ago.

The reopening of Kuno National Park was delayed this year due to unusually heavy rainfall. Now, with the park ready to welcome visitors, hopes are high that the cheetahs will soon be roaming freely in their new habitat. According to reports, the release of the cheetahs is expected to commence shortly after the monsoon withdraws from central India, which, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), is anticipated by early October.

Nearly a year after they arrived in India, the cheetahs have been moved back into enclosures for health monitoring. The first-ever intercontinental translocation of big cats, this project is the culmination of a global effort to revive the cheetah population in India. Officials have indicated that the phased release of the cheetahs, including cubs and their mothers, will take place by December, allowing them time to acclimatise to their natural surroundings.

All 25 cheetahs — comprising 13 adults and 12 cubs — are reportedly in good health. To prevent infections, they have undergone prophylactic treatments and vaccinations. This comes after a challenging year in which three cheetahs succumbed to septicemia, a bacterial infection that entered their bloodstream through wounds. The wounds were caused by the growth of unexpected winter coats during the Indian summer and monsoon, a reaction to the African winter conditions the cheetahs were accustomed to. Scratching their thick coats led to injuries, which became infected, highlighting the complexities of managing African cheetahs in the Indian climate.

With the park now open and the cheetahs in good health, it is only a matter of time before they are released into the wild, offering tourists a unique opportunity to witness the return of these majestic animals to Indian soil.