Cheetah Park. Oh Cheetah Park. What a wonderful overnight stop you turned out to be. This place is run by a farmer. Years ago Cheetahs would plague his farm and kill his cattle. Before they were endangered he would basically shoot the cheetah to save his herd. After they became protected he decided that the only way to deter the cheetah from killing his cows was to feed them. And thus Cheetah Park was born. Tourists can now camp on his grounds and do two things. Firstly, he has now acquired 3 orphaned cheetahs as pets. You can enter his house grounds and stroke these cheetah in his back garden. It was amazing, and flipping nerve-wracking! Especially after he warns you that they like to eat croc shoes (sorry Carol who was wearing some), not to wear sunglasses as they'll attack you (Sean's aviators had to be shelved for the duration), not to stroke one of the cheetah when he's lying down, and at all times to make sure you don't tread on their tails! We each got a turn at petting the cheetah. They're much coarser than you'd imagine, but it was just so brilliant to do. I felt sorry, however, for the poor little pet dog who was trying so hard to get some loving and attention from we guests - he just wasn't quite a cheetah after all.
The second event is feeding the wild cheetah. They put you all in the back of this trailer, drive through the double fenced gates and you're immediately surrounded by up to 20 wild cheetah who know where their next meal is coming from. At times I did wonder if the guy was just going to tip us off the trailer and we'd be the meal of the day! We were so close to these animals it was incredible. They tailed us all in single file, occasionally filing off the road in perfect unison into the bushes before crossing back and following us behind again. Some cheetah couldn't stand the wait and a little fight ensured (broken up by the brave owner's son with a stick - I guess these Cheetah won't bite the hand that feeds them!). But the most amazing part was the feeding. The owner's son would throw a slab of meat into the air and the cheetah would all jump and fight over it. The winner would run off with it into the bush to eat. It was amazing (and again I'm grateful to Jake and his introduction of High Speed Burst setting on my camera for without it I would certainly not have gotten this shot):
I can't explain how amazing it was to witness this. It's certainly got to be on any visit to Namibia - all it cost us was a fiver!
Tomorrow we set off towards Otjiwarongo and Spitzkoppe. But tonight I'll dream of Cheetahs (and this time hopefully they won't be cats trying to eat me!)
Other Things Jennie Will Remember;
1) Carol climbing the viewing tower before running back again as a snake curled it's way over the steps.
2) Spotting a Damaradikdik Antelope at the bar
3) The weird stuff displayed on the bar walls (like the warthogs bum and the elephants penis)
Here are the photos:
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