The two cheetahs will be shifted to the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary, located more than 250 km from Kuno where the ambitious intercontinental translocation of the big cats was launched nearly three years ago.

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Uttam Kumar Sharma on Saturday said preparations were completed for shifting of the two male cheetahs.

Prabhash and Pavak would be taken by road to the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary, which straddles Mandsaur and Neemuch districts, where Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will release them in the evening, he said.

The journey will take 6-7 hours, said the official.

Prabhash and Pavak were brought from South Africa’s Waterberg Biosphere Reserve to the Kuno National Park in February 2023.

Eight Namibian cheetahs, comprising five females and three males, were released in the KNP on September 17, 2022, marking the first-ever intercontinental translocation of the big cats.

Twelve more cheetahs were translocated in February 2023 from South Africa to Kuno, which now has 26 cheetahs, including 14 India-born cubs.

Earlier, the National Tiger Conservation Authority officials said in Bhopal on Friday that eight cheetahs would be brought to India from Botswana in southern Africa in two phases, including four by May. PTI COR ADU NR GK