On Friday, we headed up north a ways to Otjiwarongo to go to the Cheetah Conservation Fund. Along the way we stopped in Okahandja at the market to do some bartering for Namibian made goods. I became quite the barterer and made all sorts of deals with the locals trading bracelets, t-shirts and jerseys that I brought from home. I will not disclose what all I got, because some of the stuff are presents for people who are reading this very blog. After we finished shopping, we piled back into our bus/van thing (pictures to come) and made our way about 2 hours north to Otjiwarongo where we stayed at Out of Africa--kind of an ironic name for a hotel if you ask me. While we were there we met up with Betsy Fox for dinner.
Betsy works for a NGO in Namibia that is working to teach people about Elephants and help them realize that it is possible for Elephants and humans to live in harmony. There are major controversies around Elephants, especially in the more rural areas of Namibia, where a whole village shares one water source. The Elephants come into the village to get water when there is no water anywhere else and often times pull out water pipes, which makes it nearly impossible for the local people to get water. I had never really thought about these issues, mostly because I didn't know they were there. Often times humans are afraid to be around Elephants for fear they will be stomped to death. Out of fear people will bring it upon themselves to take care of what they deem to be a problem and shoot and kill the elephants. The NGO that Betsy works for puts on workshops for people and works with other NGO's to help protect both humans and Elephants. I would love to come back to Namibia and volunteer with Betsy. After the wonderful dinner and conversation, we headed back to our rooms at Out of Africa before trekking on to the Cheetah Conservation Fund which is located about 40 minutes outside of Otjiwarongo.
Spending the night at Out of Africa was nice. We had an opportunity to stay with different people than we are living with at Casa Blanca. Jan and Paula encouraged us to "mix things up" and stay with people we don't normally spend a lot of time with. Alicia, Kristin, and I decided we would room together, which worked out just great. It was fun to get to switch things up a bit.
After a good night's rest we headed onward to the Cheetah Conservation Fund. This experience was my favorite experience thus far. We started out by going out into a cheetah camp with our guide Charles to meet five different cheetahs. They are the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen.
Up close and personal with a cheetah.
Following the cub walk we got to see a feeding. They only feed the cheetahs who they know they will not be able to return to the wild. The cheetahs who are expected to make it back to the wild are housed in a much bigger camp approximately 25km away from the CCF headquarters.
When they feed the animals, they put about 2kg of horse or donkey meat into a bowl for each cheetah. Watching them eat was very interesting. It was amazing how clean they left the bones; there was no meat left on them. The cubs were my favorite to watch feed. They were jumping on top of one another prior to being let into the feeding pin. Once the gate was opened to the feeding pin, the cheetahs flew to their bowls immediately. It was absolutely fascinating to watch.
After the feeding, Charles took us on a tour of the entire facility. It was really wonderful to hear their philosophy and their attempts to build the cheetah population. Much like Betsy and the Elephants, CCF's main goal is to teach people (farmers in particular) that it is absolutely possible and necessary for humans and cheetahs to live in harmony. Again, I would love to come back and volunteer to work at CCF for a few weeks one summer.
Just to let everyone know, I will not be posting for the next 5 days or so as we are headed up north to visit the tent schools and Etosha National Park. I will post as soon as I get back!
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