Cheetah Farm

Trip Start May 31, 2006

Trip End Oct 14, 2006

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Flag of Namibia Otjhotongwe, Namibia
Saturday, September 30, 2006

30th Sept was our last morning in Etosha...we did a bit more of a game drive and found 15 lions eating a wilderbeest...a couple of cubs...lots of females and an old slightly lame male. We sat watching them for ages. Also due to the rains the night before, there was some puddles by the side of the road...and the Zebra and Giraffe were bounding around splashing, rolling and drinking in the puddles...and everyone just seemed so full of life, it was great. We started heading out of Etosha at about 10am. At about 11.45 we arrived at the small town of Outjo, i was on truck security, so stayed with the truck until Ronnie arrived back, and then i was going to go to the shops, but Anita and Belinda called me over to say there was good cakes at the the cafe they were out...so i made a detour...had a fabulous, and huge slice of chocolate cake with toffee filling...happy and indulged...i found the post office to send some postcards, a souvenir shop for a few bits, and a supermarket for some proper lunch

a collection of animals...

. That pretty much sums up town stops...a bit of indulgence...some practical shopping and you're off again! We left about an hour later, and headed for Otjhotongwe. We arrived at the campsite, which is the home to some tame cheetahs, as well as wild cheetah's housed in an area of their farm land. They are cattle, goat and sheep farmers, but take in Cheetah's that have been prowling on people's land because otherwise they would just be shot. In order to provide for them, they open up feeding time and their campsite to visitors. When we arrived we went straight to meet their tame cheetah's. These are ones they have reared themselves from youngsters for various reasons. We met Ulle, a 7 year old, and Baba, a 4 year old. I was stroking one on the head, when the other came up and started licking my armpit...nice...the tongue was so rough it was like sandpaper...an exfoliation like i've never had before. It was so funny...the guy had to move her on in the end as it actually began to be quite painful! They were also purring so loudly as we petted them...kinda like a loud version of your household pet...though could be a bit more dangerous if you upset them!

We went and set up camp and sat around chatting for a bit, before long, it was time to go for the feeding. We went up to the bar, and climbed in a trailer at the back of a truck, and drove into the enclosure. The driver stopped when we got in there as he'd noticed a baby cheetah had escaped from an enclosure next door into the wild cheetah's and was being picked on

after the rain

. With a stick and a lot of nerve he went and got the baby cheetah by the tail and threw it into the enclosure with it's mother...keeping the others at bay with the stick...we were impressed. When he'd got the baby back in it's enclosure, we drove on round for a bit with the cheetah's prowling behind and after a while stopped and he through pieces of meat out to each cheetah...and you could watch them each going for it...certainly worth watching. Afterwards we just sat for a while in the bar, and then went to watch the two baby cheetah's feeding with their mother, before settling down to a good dinner...except i wasn't sure about the sausages! After dinner we all headed to the Bar where Sara and I managed to beat Be and Anita at pool, before Greg and Ronnie beat us! Then it was time for bed...but i left some of the others singing in the bar!