In 7m bounds, 4 every second, these cats can sprint to almost 60 mph in less than 3 seconds, a feat of acceleration unmatched by even the fastest Ferrari sports car.

The cheetah is Africa’s most endangered big cat. The arid bush landscape of Namibia, in south west Africa, is the species’ last remaining stronghold and contains almost half of the continent’s cheetahs. Yet, in the last decade over 7,000 have been killed in this country alone, leaving a remnant population of just 3,000.

Cheetah portrait, Otjiwarongo, Namibia.

Dr Laurie Marker, founder of  the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) with Chewbaaka, an orphan male cheetah she hand-raised from a cub, outside the CCF headquarters in the African bush 80km from Otjiwarongo, Namibia.

CCF researchers/fieldworkers monitor the health of a cheetah, give it inoculations and collect blood samples watched by a curious group of locals who have never seen a cheetah close-up before. The cheetah will be released in a few hours once it has recovered from anaesthesia.

A CCF researcher checks “swing gates” in a game fence. The CCF investigated the use of these types of gates as a way of preventing wild cheetahs straying into areas reserved for antelope and other game species, where they were liable to be shot. Game fences are designed to keep game species in and exclude predators. Unfortunately, wart hogs are adept at digging holes under the fences that allow access for cheetahs and other predators. If a “swing gate” is provided, the wart hogs can push their way in without digging a hole, but cheetahs will not push the gate and are, therefore, excluded.

A large male cheetah confronted on farmland.