He simply couldn't do this project in the tigers' native Asia, Varty insists, despite rampant criticism that that's where "wild" tigers belong. Here, in South Africa, the Londolozi founder readily purchased all the game he needed to stock the area "with a few phone calls to some of my mates." The infrastructure was in place. He knows the lay of the land.

Clearly, so does Julie. We've lost her for a moment and stop to listen. Varty scrambles when he catches a glimpse of her pouncing. Whatever it was, she missed it.

Varty has employed a crew of locals from nearby Philippolis, a depressed agricultural town, to help restore the land by razing the decrepit farmhouses, tearing down windmills, moving a road that thoughtlessly bisects a swampy region, and, not incidentally, erecting a tiger-proof fence. With conscientious land management, the water table started to rise on cue. A spring flows into a stream. The parched earth, with its stubborn patches of stubby brown grass, is in recovery. Much to everyone's surprise (and some dismay), Varty is growing tiger habitat. And tigers. In Africa.

A farmer who formerly owned one of the properties was amazed at the transformation, according to Varty: "He says that if he had known this water was here, he wouldn't have sold the farm. I told him the water wouldn't be here if the windmills and sheep still were."

As soon as a permit allows, which could be any day now, a 24-month tracking study will commence in these 20,000 acres. If the tigers are successful in fending for themselves for the next two years, the smaller fence will come down and all 90,000 acres will become available to them.

Tigers, in their native Asia, live in "closed" habitats: scrub, riverine forest and tall grasslands where they hunt and kill with stealth and in secrecy. This terrain, in theory, might appear more suited to cheetah than tiger, Varty says, because open grassy areas comprise such a big chunk of it (35 percent). But it also has rugged hills and steep gorges in dense bush — places for duiker, kudu, bushbuck and eland, all tiger prey.

It'll be interesting to see if the tigers modify their hunting methods, Varty says, when the gazelles and blesbok start to drop their young. Mothers leave their babies sitting frozen and still in the grass while they forage, periodically coming back to nurse. He wonders if tigers will recognize these opportunities and hunt accordingly.

Julie, meanwhile, is lapping up water from the spring. In the excitement of meeting her, I forgot to pack a bottle of water when we set out. I guess I could hunker down next to her and Varty who's cupping his hands and drinking gustily. But no, I think I'll just stay thirsty, for now.

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