When the sun rose over the highveldt on 12 April 2007, the fastest predator in the natural world took on a predator from the sporting world in a race to save the wild cheetah from extinction.
Feared across the world for his blistering pace and ability to attack from anywhere on the pitch, international rugby star and Springbok winger Bryan Habana raced against a cheetah to launch the De Wildt Cheetah Tracker; a three year research programme to support cheetah conservation across South Africa.
Sponsoring the race, and the three year De Wildt Cheetah Tracker programme, is Sasol Chevron, a company at the forefront of the production and marketing of the cleanest, most powerful, low emissions diesel fuel in the world – GTL.   Critical to the success of the De Wildt Cheetah Tracker is mobility. The team will have to cover many hundreds of thousands of kilometres to get the work done and, to help them do this, Sasol Chevron has donated two M class Mercedes. These vehicles will run on GTL diesel donated by Sasol Chevron as part of a three year fuel test and this revolutionary clean fuel will allow De Wildt to do its work with the lowest possible vehicle emissions.

In South Africa, the free-roaming cheetah is under threat due to persecution and a reduced population size.  During 2000, as a reaction to the declining numbers of cheetah in the wild De Wildt spearheaded the formation of the National Cheetah Conservation Forum of South Africa (NCCF) which developed a national strategy and identified the need for a census.  The De Wildt Cheetah Tracker, sponsored by Sasol Chevron, will provide accurate scientific data by tracking cheetah numbers electronically and making ull use of technology such as camera traps.
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The De Wildt Cheetah Tracker will cover many hundreds of thousands of kilometers.  This is one of the most equipment and cost intensive areas of the study which is why Sasol Chevron has stepped in to help.  Sasol Chevron has supplied two 'M' class Mercedes to transport the tracker teams.  These vehicles are unique in South Arica and use the very latest in European emissions abatement technology.
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8 May 2008
Kelly's Diary
"The captive release project has been going well and female Phoenix was released and had made one kill! Then she started to limp... Luckily our vet Peter Caldwell was on the reserve that weekend, so he darted her and examined her foot. The diagnosis – a badly broken toe! We brought her back to Pretoria to x-ray and perhaps have an orthopaedic surgeon work on it. But after x-rays and consultation with the orthopaedic surgeon, it was decided that the only option was to amputate her toe. The operation was a success and Phoenix is expected to have a full recovery and be back in the bush in about three weeks. She is definitely going to have an easy track to identify!!"
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5 May 2008
Kelly's Diary
"De Wildt has entered into a partnership with some landowners who become Cheetah Custodians. These landowners keep captive bred cheetahs that are retired from De Wildt’s breeding programme. This frees up some space at De Wildt, helps us financially and gives the landowners the attraction of cheetahs on their properties. One of these properties is Koedoesfontein in Thabazimbi in the heart of our study area. They have two female cheetahs that are enjoying life in big camps and are being fed delicious game meat. However, one of my research cats, Sunny, is finding the females very attractive and spends heaps of time hanging around outside their camps. We set a camera trap there to make sure it was him and it certainly is! He walks around the camps every night, scent marking, spraying on the fences and generally showing off to the two girls.."
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                            DEON                KELLY

DEON CILLIERS
Deon completed his National Diploma in Nature Conservation at the Pretoria Technicon (now TUT) and started his Conservation career as an Environmental Officer in the South African Airforce.     
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KELLY MARNEWICK
Kelly Marnewick did a BSc in Zoology and Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) then carried on to complete an MSc (Wildlife Management) at the University of Pretoria.
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Cheetahs are fitted with technologically advanced tracking collars which allow the cheetahs to be tracked remotely via the internet.  The collars are fitted with GSM and GPS units and once the cheetahs move into an area with GSM coverage, the collar automatically dials into a server and downloads all the recorded GPS localities.
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