Hand-rearing the brothers, teaching them the life skills cheetahs need to survive, and observing the cubs as they pass through key stages of their development, Simon’s efforts to rehabilitate the cheetahs and reintroduce them to the world of wild cheetahs is filled with delight but also sadness. Simon becomes more deeply attached to the orphans, making difficult, yet critical decisions that determine their fate. When tragedy strikes, Simon is overcome with emotion, but has to make clear decisions for the welfare of Toki. Buy the DVD. This film premiered November 2007.

NATURE goes behind the scenes of The Cheetah Orphans in an interview with filmmaker Simon King.

Why was it so important for you to take a role in these cheetahs’ lives? How rare are cheetahs? How important is it for them to reproduce?

There are fewer than 13,000 cheetahs left in the wild, probably far fewer, though figures for some African countries are hard to tally. Every single one of them counts. Without human help, these cubs would certainly have died, their mother having been killed by a lion in a remote part of Northern Kenya. The cubs were discovered by some Samburu boys, and brought to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. [The cheetahs] were exhausted, dehydrated and emaciated — on the verge of death. They were brought back from the brink by Jane and Ian Craig, who have tremendous experience with raising orphaned creatures. I first heard about [the cheetahs] when they had been with the Craigs for about four weeks and immediately offered my help.

What other options were there for the cheetah orphans besides you taking on their education? Was there any chance a wild cheetah mother could have adopted them?

There was very little chance of a wild cheetah mother adopting the cubs. First of all, one would have to find a wild mother with cubs of precisely the same age. And then, there is little chance such a mother would accept the offspring of another female. She would be very likely to reject and even injure them. The cubs were at death’s door. They could either be saved by human hand, or left to perish.

In the wild, would both parents be involved in raising the litter?

Only the female cheetah raises the young. The father has nothing whatsoever to do with the family. He may, from time to time, come and inspect the female, but this is more to see if she is ready to mate once more than through any fatherly tendencies!

Describe your commitment level once you made the decision to raise the cheetahs. How much time did you spend each day teaching Toki and Sambu?

Had the cubs died in the field, since they had been left alone after their mother had been killed by a lion, one could argue it would have been a natural end to their short lives. The moment human beings became involved in their welfare, I believe we all had a responsibility to try and do the very best for them for as long as was necessary. I shared the job of caring for the cubs with my wife, Marguerite, the Craig family and a few members of the Lewa Wildlife team, most notably Stephen Yiasoi Siapan, a local Masai whose affinity for Toki and Sambu was very special. Between all of us, the cubs had 24-hour care for the first months of their life. As the cheetahs matured, we maintained the 24-hour vigil at first and then kept watch for 14 hours a day (all daylight hours).

Simon filming Toki

Do baby cheetahs normally bond as strongly as Sambu and Toki did?

Cheetah cubs always form a very strong bond. This is particularly important for male cheetahs (Toki and Sambu were both male) since the bond will last through to adulthood. A coalition of male cheetahs has a far greater chance of breeding with females they encounter than do solitary males.

When you and Stephen babysat Toki day and night after Sambu died, he was not only tolerant of your presence but he almost seemed to expect that one of you would sleep beside him at night. Did Toki or Sambu’s acceptance of you and Stephen surprise you? Is it common for human-raised cheetahs to get so attached to their caretakers?

However, the downside of this was that spending time with him undid a lot of work we had put in to try and distance ourselves from the brothers. Just before Sambu died, both Toki and Sambu were living wild lives, hunting entirely for themselves and were very wary of humans they did not know. After Sambu’s death, I felt Toki needed the protection and support of his human guardians once more. Our close contact helped him to survive, but meant that we had to start again with getting him to be fully independent and distrustful of people.

I was not surprised by his acceptance of us; he had known us all his life. It was very touching though. Toki was very distressed after his brother Sambu was killed by a lion. He had come to expect company day and night. Since he was completely used to Stephen and me, it was the least we could do to provide him with company. He was also very vulnerable at this time, frequently calling for his brother. Those calls would attract unwanted company like lions and leopards.

You said you were terrified when you released Toki to the main reserve at Ol Pejeta. What threats would Toki, in particular, be most vulnerable to as a human-raised cheetah?

All cheetahs are vulnerable to attack from other predators. The orphans’ mother had been killed by a lion, and Sambu, too, suffered the same fate. Every day, Toki would run the same risk as any wild cheetah of coming into contact with lions, leopards, hyenas, or a coalition of other male cheetahs, all of which would try to kill him. While within the 90,000 acres of Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy, Toki would not encounter any human that might do him harm. But if he found his way out of the reserve he could come into contact with poachers and herdsmen who would not be so harmless.

With so many threats to cheetahs in the wild, do cheetahs ever die of old age or do they usually suffer a violent, unfortunate death?

I have never seen, nor read an account of a wild cheetah dying of old age, though old age may take the edge off their senses, making them more vulnerable to attack or reducing their ability to hunt efficiently. Statistically, a male cheetah is considered getting very old if he reaches seven or eight years, so tough is their life. In captivity they may live a great deal longer; up to double that figure.

Do you think Toki may have ventured into human territory because of his human upbringing and tolerance of people? Would a wild cheetah likely have done the same?

On the contrary, Toki wandered out of the reserve and into hostile country in the north just because he could! The area he visited does have wild cheetah walking through it, as does the reserve itself. I believe he may have felt compelled to keep walking north because he smelt another male cheetah and recalled the near deadly attack he suffered at the jaws of the male coalition in Lewa. I think he was simply looking for a patch of ground where he could be king, or at least where he would be left well alone by other male cheetahs. The fact that there were human beings in the area was entirely incidental to him. He could have no idea that the people he would encounter there might not be friendly. Nor was he seeking human company, just a place to live.

How have Toki and Sambu changed you?

Working so closely with such charismatic, beautiful big cats is a once in a lifetime experience. Sharing time with Toki and Sambu has given me a deeper understanding of these wonderful creatures than I could ever have gleaned with a lifetime of observations in the wild. Simply being with them when they lost their first milk teeth is one example of the privileged contact and observations we had. Being part of their team has been both humbling and enriching beyond words. It has also been very hard at times to make decisions based on pragmatism, when my emotional self has become so closely linked to their fortunes. Very tough decisions had to be made in the face of huge risks. I sincerely hope that Toki and Sambu would agree that we made the right ones, despite their hardships.

Why was it important that this film broadcast on Nature? What do you hope viewers take away from this Nature program?

It is very exciting to think that Toki and Sambu’s story will reach a new audience through Nature. And not just any audience, but one whose care and commitment to ensuring the natural world has an enduring future on this planet is, I am certain, a life priority. I sincerely hope viewers can share something of the wonder and beauty that our experience raising the cheetah orphans has offered us. I also hope that it increases awareness of some of the difficulties faced in contemporary conservation projects. Kenya is a magnificent country with a host of natural riches. But these riches take careful management if they are to be there in perpetuity. I hope that the story of these cheetahs in some way helps to reflect the bigger conservation issues faced by the wild places on this earth.

Anything else that you would like to convey?

If anyone wishes to offer help for Toki and other wildlife in Kenya, then we have set up a trust in his name. The Toki Trust falls under the umbrella of Tusk Trust, a charity devoted to sustainable conservation projects in Africa. Resources raised by the trust will be spent to ensure Toki’s well-being, maintain a sustainable plan for his future and will contribute to the ongoing development of conservation projects in Kenya, most notably in Lewa and Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancies.

I will continue to post details of how Toki is getting on, on my own website — www.simonkingwildlife.com — on a regular basis.

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The latest information we have on Toki comes from the Web site of Ol Pejeta Conservancy, dated November 24, 2008.

The Ol Pejeta Conservancy would like to announce to Toki fans, that their favourite “celebrity” cheetah is doing well in his secure, 1,700 acre haven within the conservancy.

Predator expert, Stephen Saipan, regularly monitors Toki and reports that he continues to live a natural & peaceful life, hunting impala’s and Thompson’s gazelles, skillfully fending for himself. The only set back for Toki in the past couple of years was a minor operation on his ear, to remove a small swelling that appeared on its tip. The swelling was examined and tested and returned no threatening results. Toki has since fully recovered from the operation.

Efforts to find him a mate are still underway, with future plans of establishing a cheetah breeding programme on the conservancy.

We will continue to update our site with further information about Toki as it becomes available.

The big cats of Africa have always been favored subjects of wildlife filmmakers. But as little as 15 years ago, no one had captured the unforgettable image of a leopard in its ghostly nocturnal stalk. Viewers had never seen intimate portrayals of the sleek and elusive serval, or witnessed the nighttime romps of the beautiful black-eared caracal.

The team of Owen Newman and Amanda Barrett filled those gaps with a series of spectacular breakthrough films in the 1990s. Among the first to apply infrared light and night vision goggles to wildlife studies, they combined technology with intrepid determination and a strong dose of luck, illuminating the cats we hardly knew, and giving us fresh insights into those we only thought we knew, such as lions and cheetahs.

Join the team of Newman and Barrett as they pursue unique and amazing footage of Africa’s five most spectacular cats: cheetahs, leopards, servals, caracals, and lions in Chasing Big Cats. 

To order a copy of Chasing Big Cats, please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for Chasing Big Cats was originally posted November 2004.

To make NATURE’s Chasing Big Cats, natural history filmmakers Owen Newman and Amanda Barrett spent years in Africa trailing some of the world’s rarest and most secretive predatory animals. Their painstaking labor, which has included tracking cats for days on end, has produced some of wildlife filmmaking’s most memorable footage. NATURE recently spoke with the pair from their home in the United Kingdom.

This is difficult work. How did you get involved in it?

Amanda Barrett: I’ve been doing it about 16 years. I started off as a secretary [to a filmmaker], then went on to become a researcher and then a producer. I’ve always been passionate about wildlife and environmental issues, and I wanted to show people the beauty of the amazing world around us. With knowledge comes respect, appreciation, and admiration. I hope people see that they are just one species among many. On the evolutionary scale we are just a twig on the tree, not the topmost branch. Lions are just trying to do what we do — raise babies and make their way in the world. Hopefully we can give them the space they need to do that.

Owen Newman: I got into it by accident, actually, in the late 1970s. I was doing still photography, and was helping out with a show on small mammals. [The filmmaker] gave me an ancient [movie] camera to try out. I think his exact words were to “p— off and go do some filming.” So I ended up making a film about some mice.

What’s drawn you to filming cats?

Owen Newman in the field.

Amanda: Well, they are very photogenic, and they do a lot of interesting things. And there is still a lot to be found out about them. That’s not to say we’re not interested in those poor old herbivores, it’s just the cats are so interesting.

Owen: I think everyone is interested in the big cats. The first filming I did was of cheetahs. I latched on to a female with about six cubs, and it was fascinating to watch. When I’d finished that, I ended up doing a film where I followed a cheetah with small cubs for about three months… just followed her around…

How much time do you spend in the field filming?

Amanda: We go out for six to eight months a year. You need time to find and get to know the animals.

What’s changed during the time you’ve been going to Africa to film wild cats?

Amanda: In Kenya, the increasing human population is very noticeable. Parks are becoming islands in a sea of people. In Tanzania it is less noticeable, because it is a bigger country. Many of the changes I see are not necessarily for the better. But what gives me hope is that more and more young people are aware of the issues and problems.

Owen: There are certainly a lot more photographers and tourists. There is a lot more pressure on animals now… On some occasions you just get so many cars following one animal that you just have to back out. It is bad for the animal. Not everyone behaves very well.

Do you have a favorite moment you’ve captured on film?

Amanda: My most favorite is a backlit cheetah running right at the camera. It shows the essence of the cheetah. When the shot starts, she’s not at full tilt. Then her ears go back and you can see complete determination to catch that impala. She’s bred to run… it is millions of years of evolution caught in a moment of perfection. That is what every natural history filmmaker is trying to get. That run is the best cheetah run anyone will ever get… if not, I’ll eat my hat.

Owen: That was quite good. We also filmed some male lions fighting… that was quite lucky. The most exciting stuff has been with small cats. I filmed a young male serval that upset a grant’s gazelle, and she charged him and threw him over her back. Filming servals leaping in the air to catch storks was wonderful too.

What is one of your most difficult or memorable assignments?

Owen: We did a lot of work with male cheetahs, and the only way to do that is to trail them and stay with them for 5, 6, 7 days at a time, all day and all night. One evening we were with some tourists, watching these 3 males sitting under a tree. The tourists left, but we had license to stay on and follow them. As it got dark the cheetahs got up and started moving, then they would stop to sleep, then move on again. It was a hell of a job to stay awake yourself. Overall, they moved 16 kilometers (about 10 miles). But when they finally went to sleep around dawn, they’d ended up just 20 meters (about 65 feet) from where they started! The tourists who came back after breakfast must have thought we’d been there all night, in the same place!

Amanda: Filming that caracal at night. Trying to find one is like finding a needle in the haystack. So finding that cat, which was an incredible performer, was like finding Marilyn Monroe… she was one in 10,000.

What’s the next challenge?

Amanda: We’re off to Brazil to try to film wild jaguars. It is the most difficult cat of all.

Owen: Yes, just coming to grips with a wild jaguar will be very difficult. It’s the hardest thing we’ve set off to do. We’ll be using remote cameras, which we’ve never used before.

Amanda: They live in very impenetrable habitats and melt away into the undergrowth — and the undergrowth is very, very thick. But you try, because filming a wild cat doing its own thing is the ultimate Holy Grail.

Owen: Some shots you imagine are going to be really difficult. And then you get there and it is actually quite easy. And sometimes it’s the simplest shot that turns out to be virtually impossible. You never know until you are doing it.