Eastern Serengeti is a vast expanse of open plains and is one of the few remaining strongholds for cheetah. Namiri is an area that was closed to tourism for two decades to rebuild numbers and conduct vital research for identifying why this most elegant of cats is on a quiet road to extinction. Today, Africa is home to only 7,100 individuals. They have disappeared from over 90% of their historical ranges as competition for land continues to rise. Cheetahs are perhaps the least adaptive to shrinking habitats of the big cats because larger predators put them and their cubs at significant risk. The Serengeti Cheetah Project found that in the past, cheetahs positioned themselves in further off regions in ecosystems, away from concentrated game where lion and hyena dominate. They also found that only 5% of cheetah cubs survive their first two years, and this figure is decreasing because they are forced into areas with greater competition due to human encroachment on habitat.