In conservationist Mary Wykstra’s notebook from years ago, a scribbled line about the cheetah reads: “To look into the eyes of a cheetah… shows a history unknown to man.”

“I don’t know who the author of the line is,” said Wykstra. “But when I look into the eyes of a cheetah, it’s like they are saying, ‘help me.’”

Wykstra came to Kenya from Namibia in 2001 to assess the status and threats to cheetahs inside and outside protected areas in the country, then working alongside the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF).

Years later, research on the cheetahs in the country by Action for Cheetahs in Kenya (ACK), which Wykstra founded, and other conservation groups, has found that the feline exists in unusual habitats and is under threat due to landscape loss.

“Eighty per cent of cheetahs live outside protected areas based on a 2004-2007 National Cheetah Survey carried out by ACK, the East African Wild Life Society and the Kenya Wildlife Service,” said Wykstra.

The 2007 survey put the cheetah population at between 1,000 and 1,400.

The survey showed a population of cheetahs in Laikipia and Machakos in north-central and eastern Kenya respectively. Machakos, 90 kilometres southeast of Nairobi, was one of the most unlikely places for cheetahs to be living.

“Here, there was a strong population of cheetahs co-existing in dense human population in unusual habitat,” said Wykstra. “It’s hilly, mostly farmland and scattered bush with a busy transnational highway cutting through it.

Between 2007 and 2012, the Aimi and Malili Ranches and Kima Estate in Machakos were sub-divided, cleared of forest and are now covered with iron sheet roofs.

Land subdivision resulted in increased human-wildlife conflict.

“The leopards, hyenas and cheetahs began moving to neighbouring areas like Ngaamba and Kiu, and human-wildlife conflict increased. It shows that if we don’t plan for natural resource management, there will be landscape loss all over Kenya,” said Wykstra.

She added: “It’s a vicious circle. The rural farmers in Makueni, for example, are given maize seeds, the rains are inadequate, the maize fails, then they are given fertilisers. Yet this land is not suitable for agriculture. Also, the bees are almost gone from the area because of the pesticides used.”

Wykstra says the irony is that Makueni County gets as much food aid as the dry northern districts.

“It’s clear that what they are doing is not sustainable,” said Wykstra.

The ACK team then expanded its study area to include the Athi-Kapiti ecosystem where the big commercial ranches are not likely to subdivide any time soon. Monitoring and camera-traps in the ranches have identified 25 cheetahs.

“Cheetahs don’t cause problems on ranches and so they are tolerated,” she said.

Noreen Mutoro, a student at the University of Nairobi, affiliated with ACK, is working on her thesis about the diet of the cheetah around Salama and Athi-Kapiti by analysing their faeces — 300 samples collected between 2012 and 2013.

“This will help us know if they are eating what is most abundant or what is preferred, and how cheetahs are adapting to these changes,” she said.

Analysis of the DNA from cheetah faecal material will show how related they are and where the genetic corridors — cheetahs breeding zones- are to exchange genes.

“The reason this is so important is that cheetahs are 99 per cent identical. So if they become inbred, they easily contract diseases and develop genetic deformities,” she explained.

In 2009, ACK expanded its activities to Samburu in northern Kenya.

“The Northern Rangelands Trust records showed the highest cheetah sightings in a 1,400-square-kilometre area of Meibae north of Samburu — Buffalo Springs National Reserve and Westgate Conservancy,” Mutoro said.

According to the findings so far, Meibae the youngest conservancy is a vital core for the cheetahs — as the cheetah breed and increase in numbers, they move outwards into new territories.

“The Samburu have a high tolerance for predators especially cheetahs,” says Wykstra. “They believe that a certain number of livestock is for predators and so they get angry only when it exceeds the limit.”

Wykstra said development and conservation need to go hand-in-hand.

She cited the example of the Mombasa-Nairobi highway, which is a major route for cargo trucks ferrying their wares inland and where cars speed, killing wildlife.

In 2013, three adult cheetahs were killed while crossing the highway near Machakos. One female was pregnant with six cubs, which translates into nine cheetahs taken out of the ecosystem. Also under threat are hyenas and servals.

“There’s no time for the animals to cross the road,” said Wykstra. “The fast vehicles give the animals no escape avenue. The train may be a better alternative because animals sense the vibrations of the tracks.”

Wykstra added that there is a need for good signage on all roads to alert people where the wildlife crossing areas are, as well as speed bumps on long flat stretches of road in order to protect wildlife.

In Zimbabwe, a novel way of protecting the endangered wild dog is to fit the leader of the pack with a reflective collar so that motorists can see the pack when they are moving at night. It’s something that ACK is looking into.

“Development needs to factor in wildlife conservation, which in turn translates into natural resource management — you’re conserving water, trees and grass and the livelihoods of the people,” said Wykstra. “It’s holistic management.”

It may be the cheetah’s only hope.