Namibia/ Cheetah park
March 24, 2010
tags: blogsherpa, Namibia
by ~Anna
One of the unique visitor attractions in Namibia–besides the sand dunes, game parks, mountains; ok there are many things that make Namibia completely unique!–are the cheetah. Namibia has the highest cheetah population out of any other African country, which is great–they are highly endangered and very rare to see in the wild.
Boasting the highest cheetah population is a double edged sword however: on a continent that has seen much of the natural bush lost to urbanization, the cheetah now find that they have less territory than they once did. Thus the cheetah, in their daily search for food and water, now come into contact with man daily, especially on his farms looking for easy prey such as goats and sheep. The cheetah is now seen by many Namibians as pests and a threat to their own livelihood, so they are hunted, poisoned, or caught in traps and killed. It’s harsh, but very real. Worse, it’s seen as the only solution for many farmers who are in turn losing the animals they need to keep themselves alive.
Two cheetah siblings followed us as we toured through the sanctuary
Many cheetah parks or farms have sprung up in an attempt to aid in conservation of the world’s fastest land animal. We had the privilege of visiting one of these farms on our way out of Etosha; it surely was an experience not many on our overland trip will be forgetting any time soon.
The family who owns the farm, which also has a campsite used by Africa Travel Company and other overland trucks, runs it as a cheetah sanctuary by day, nightclub by night. I’ll talk about the sanctuary aspect first. Driving in, we were greeted by the family’s tame giraffe, who stuck his head into the doors and windows to say hello. This is very atypical giraffe behavior, and was a telling sign of what was to come–we were in store for some very unusual experiences. The family lives in a house surrounded by fences, to keep the cheetah in. Walking up to the fence I was confronted by three large cheetah (two adult, one teenager) stalking the perimeter, but when I was let into the yard I quickly discovered that these cheetah behaved more like housecats than wild animals. They would come up and rub your leg, or lick your arm (and cheetah tongue is NOT smooth–imagine sandpaper, coarse enough to be able to lick the meat off a bone).
"Jeffry" the giraffe sticks his head inside the truck to say hello
We were also treated to a drive around the sanctuary proper–a small enclosed area out in the bush where 19-odd adult cheetah live and are fed daily by the family. All have been rescued or bred in captivity, but there is not a whole lot of scope for them to be released back into the wild, for now at least.
One of the Cheetah Boys. Note the bandage on his hand...
That night we drank and danced at the bar/nightclub, hosted by the Cheetah Boys–the family’s two 20-something sons, who apparently have a knack at getting the overlander women drunk and into their beds. We’d been warned about them before arrival (in jest), but that didn’t stop two of our crew from falling into the trap and having to walk back to the campsite, past the trio of family cheetahs, the next morning. I can’t imagine a more interesting–or strange and terrifying–walk of shame. Except perhaps if one had been able to ride the tame giraffe back to the truck–now that would be something to write home about.
Socializing with the family's "housecats"
Article and photos at: http://nilikutashani.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/namibia-cheetah-park/
