WATCH: Royal stride after a 70-year lull, Cheetahs in India finally!

New Delhi, Sep 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday released the cheetahs that were brought from Namibia on Saturday, at their new home Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

A viral video showed the crates carrying the cheetahs stacked in what was earlier the "economy" section of the Boeing aircraft.

A modified Boeing aircraft, which took off from the African country Friday night, carried the cheetahs in special wooden crates during the around 10-hour journey.

The aircraft, which took off from the African country Friday night, carried the cheetahs in the special wooden crates during the around 10-hour journey.

Before their flight from Namibia, the cheetahs, the fastest land animals in the world, were treated with a tranquilizer that lasts for three to five days.

The animals were flown to the park in Sheopur district, 165 km away from Gwalior. The journey took about 20-25 minutes, an official said.

The cheetahs remained without food during the transcontinental journey and will be given something to eat now that they have been released in the enclosures, the official said.

A dais was set up in the Park under which special cages carrying cheetahs were kept and Modi, who turned 72 on Saturday, released three of them in an enclosure by operating a lever.

Welcome home #Cheetah 🐆 pic.twitter.com/SL8hp7HoN8

— Madhuri Adnal (@madhuriadnal) September 17, 2022

The cheetahs were brought in a special flight of Terra Avia, an airline based at Chisinau, Moldova in Europe that operates chartered passenger and cargo flights.

The Park is situated on the northern side of Vidhyachal mountains and is spread across 344 sq km.

Officials battled heavy rain, inclement weather and some blocked roads to complete the preparations for Modi's programme to release the big cats in their new home in Kuno.

Two days before Modi's arrival, heavy rain lashed the Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh.