Duma

A cheetah cub is orphaned when its mother is killed by lions. Xan and his father Peter find the cub on the road and decide to bring him home, naming him Duma and starting to raise him as part of the family. The early bond between boy, father, and wild cat sets the stage for an extraordinary friendship.

Peter begins teaching Duma to run by having him chase alongside the motorcycle, a training that gradually tests the cub's endurance. The activity strengthens their bond and shows how quickly Duma grows into a powerful runner. It foreshadows the plan to return him to the wild when he is ready.

Peter tells Xan that Duma must go back to his real home before he becomes too old to survive in the wild. The family discusses letting Duma return to his native habitat so he can live the life he was born for. This plan foreshadows the later journey back toward Botswana.

Peter suddenly falls ill and dies, forcing Xan and his mother to relocate to Johannesburg. Duma travels with them, turning daily life in the city chaotic for a wild animal in a suburban setting.

Xan's aunt fears Duma, who likes to surprise people, and Duma's escape leads to a disastrous visit to Xan's school. Faced with possible captivity, the family decides to flee the city to keep Duma free.

From the city, Xan conceives of the plan his father outlined: take Duma home by overland travel to Botswana, crossing the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans and the Okavango Delta toward the Erongo Mountains. The journey will test Xan's resolve and Duma's wild spirit.

Xan drives his father's old motorcycle with Duma in the sidecar, beginning the arduous trek toward the Botswanan wilderness. They contend with rough terrain and dwindling supplies as they press toward the border.

The pair run out of fuel and water in the grasslands and take shelter under a crashed airplane. There they meet Ripkuna, a mysterious drifter with his own agenda, and Xan must decide how much he can trust this stranger.

Xan agrees to travel with Rip, and they fashion a desert sailboat from a parachute salvaged from the plane wreck. The trio makes headway across the arid landscape until the Kalahari scrub forces them to abandon the motorcycle.

Rip becomes trapped in an abandoned diamond mine after a cave-in, and Xan initially leaves him, suspecting he lies about the route to a town to sell Duma. Rip eventually escapes through a ventilation shaft and later helps rescue Xan and Duma.

The travellers reach the Okavango Delta where Xan endures wildlife attacks and the churning rapids of the Thamalakane River. The journey remains perilous as they push toward the Erongo Mountains.

At the Erongo Mountains near the Botswana–Namibia border, a swarm of tsetse flies bites Rip as he protects Xan, giving him sleeping sickness. Xan takes Rip to a nearby village where his own family is waiting to care for him.

Duma bonds quickly with another cheetah in the mountains, and Xan realizes that they must part. In a quiet farewell, Duma returns to play with his new companion as Xan watches.

Xan is reunited with Rip's family in the village and eventually returns to his mother, who waits nearby as the story closes.