Paw patrol: Inside the only reserve in Africa where you can walk with wild cheetahs

During a recent walk through Samara Karoo Reserve in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, I learned the recipe for the ultimate safari sundowner — and it wasn’t a G&T. It was golden light, blissful silence, and a wild cheetah lounging 20 feet away like she owned the place. (She did.)

Her name is Mbali, and despite her regal pose, she’s a busy mother. Her litter of six mischievous cubs was still hanging onto its last bits of baby fluff: silver-gray mullets meant to disguise them as fierce honey badgers. As the sun set, I crouched low to watch Mbali groom and nuzzle her little ones, amazed that the family remained so relaxed and confident around humans. 

Such a rare privilege is possible thanks to Mbali’s great-grandmother, the legendary Sibella, and decades of careful, responsible habituation. Wild cheetahs — notoriously skittish animals — have been accustomed to people on foot at Samara since 2004, when Sibella was released on the reserve after being rescued and rehabilitated by the De Wildt Cheetah & Wildlife Trust following a brutal hunting attack.

She became the first cheetah in South Africa’s Great Karoo region — decimated by unregulated farming and hunting — in almost 130 years.

Despite the trauma she experienced at human hands, Sibella remained remarkably relaxed around Samara’s guides, permitting them to accompany her — and later her cubs — on foot.

“Scientists can’t explain it,” said Sarah Tompkins, Samara Karoo Reserve’s founder and director. “Given her previous abuse, Sibella should have been terrified. But she allowed human beings into her space and to view her cubs.” 

That incredible legacy continues today. Each new cheetah generation, raised in an environment where humans keep a respectful distance, lets people approach on foot. Today, Samara, a leader in rewilding the Great Karoo, is considered one of the best places on the continent to photograph cheetah. Guests can also opt to book the Cheetah Trail, a three-night slackpacking experience. Both activities offer a meaningful way to leave the vehicle behind and learn firsthand about the challenges facing one of Africa’s most threatened big cats. Fewer than 7,000 adult cheetahs remain in the wild.

According to Tamsyn Fricker, co-founder of Travel Artistry Africa, more travelers are eager than ever to get out of the game vehicle and onto an active safari.

“Folks are keen to engage and learn about tracking and conservation,” she said. “It’s about slowing down to really see and understand these creatures.”

The goal is for guests to leave with a deeper desire to protect certain species and regions, but not every walk is created equal. When choosing where to go on safari, a property that guarantees a specific sighting or offers “interactions” like an animal walking beside you is a red flag.

“A legitimate operator doesn’t seek direct access to an animal and confirms guide credentials (walking guides need extra training) without hesitation,” said Fricker.

At Samara, no one promised me Mbali. Nature doesn’t work on demand, and the guides never pretended otherwise. She was a wild cheetah, unbothered, raising her family exactly as she would have whether or not we were there. 

Paw patrol

Eager to spot more African animals on foot? Don’t miss these walks on the wild side.

Rhinos in South Africa

“The Eastern Cape [of South Africa] has become an epicenter of black rhino conservation,” said Angus Sholto-Douglas, managing director of the 74,000-acre Kwandwe Private Game Reserve. During a recent visit, I tracked both black and white rhinos on foot from a respectful distance and participated in a specialized Rhino Conservation Safari, during which the reserve’s ecological team and veterinarians gathered vital data and fit a young rhino with a state-of-the-art, solar-powered ankle collar.

Elephants in Zimbabwe

Elephants never forget. And neither does Calvet Nkomo. The head guide at African Bush Camps’ Somalisa Camp, Nkomo boasts more than 30 years of experience and encyclopedic knowledge of the individual animals in Hwange National Park — home to one of Africa’s largest elephant populations. When he noticed a particularly placid bull during one of our walks, he expertly instructed me to duck into the grass until the right moment when we could safely alert the elephant of our presence.

Gorillas in Rwanda

Trekking with mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park has become popular among wildlife enthusiasts — and for good reason. “Looking into the eyes of a gorilla feels like gazing into a mirror of one’s soul,” said Inge Kotze, head of conservation at Singita, which runs nearby Kwitonda Lodge.
It’s an ecotourism success story. Mountain gorillas, once down to just 242 individuals in 1981, now number nearly 1,100 — the only great ape whose population is rising.