Plane carrying cheetahs from Namibia to land in MP’s Gwalior instead of Jaipur on Saturday: Official

Bhopal, September 16

A day before the scheduled arrival of eight cheetahs from Namibia, the authorities revealed that the landing destination of the special cargo plane carrying these felines has been changed – from Jaipur in Rajasthan to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

These cheetahs will be flown to Gwalior early on Saturday morning, from where they will be carried in a special helicopter to the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release three of them into the park’s quarantine enclosures, an official said.

As per the earlier plan, the special plane carrying these animals was to land in Jaipur from the African country, from where they were scheduled to be flown to the KNP.

Talking to PTI on Friday, principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) wildlife, JS Chauhan, said, “The cheetahs will arrive in Gwalior and from there they will be flown in a special helicopter to the KNP.” 

The eight cheetahs – five females and three males – will be brought from Namibia’s capital Windhoek to Gwalior airport in a customised Boeing 747-400 aircraft, officials have said earlier.

Chauhan confirmed that the cheetahs from Gwalior would be shifted to KNP helipad in the IAF Chinook heavy-lift helicopter.