India and Botswana on Wednesday (November 12, 2025) formally announced the translocation of eight Cheetahs from the African nation during the State visit of President Droupadi Murmu.
Thanking her counterpart President Duma Gideon Boko and the people of one of the world's largest diamond producing countries for the gesture, President Murmu assured Mr. Boko that India will take good care of the animals.
Botswana will symbolically hand over the big cats to Ms. Murmu on Thursday. The two heads of State will preside over an event where five of the eight captured cheetahs will be released into a quarantine facility at Mokolodi nature reserve, marking the symbolic handing over of the hunting cats to India by Botswana as part of ‘Project Cheetah’ and under a mutual initiative for wildlife conservation.
The cheetahs have been brought to the nature reserve, 10 km south of Gaborone, from Ghanzi town located in Kalahari desert. The rest of the cheetahs will join the quarantine centre soon, Mr. Boko said.
Botswana is a landlocked nation whose 70% landmass is covered by the Kalahari desert.
