Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Otjitongwe Cheetah Farm, near Kavanga.
I'm not going to dwell on this stay too long, as it was not dissimilar from visiting a zoo back home, in fact it would be fair to say that it was just like feeding time at the zoo!
El and I, perhaps naively, expected this cheetah farm to be similar to the Cheetah Conservation Fund. Again our expectations were sadly far from the truth.
Arriving hot, tired and sweaty following a long, long drive, we were immediately taken in to see the tame cheetahs that live with the farmers. When I say live, I mean live like tame cats. Something didn't feel right about it, especially when we were comparing it to our experience with the lions. There was 2 cheetahs who had been raised as 'pets', and 10 of us were allowed to crowd them and take turns stroking and petting them. Whilst it was good to see a cheetah so close up, it was not a comfortable experience, and whilst the lions had looked happy, well nourished and looked after, these cheetahs did not. In no way am I claiming that they weren't well looked after, but there is something not right about removing animals from their natural habitat, you essentially kill the life out of them. And these 2 cheetahs looked lifeless.
All that aside, close up I was able to see the evilness in their eyes - they looked really scary, in stark contrast to the lions whom had looked majestic and great, the cheetahs looked skinny, angular and frankly, nasty!!
With that spectacle over, we quickly found the pool and jumped in to cool off - ahhhh clear waters. Bliss for 30 minutes before we were taken to see feeding time....
Feeding time saw 2 trucks full of people being driven in to an enclosure where the cheetahs are kept. The 2 trucks take different routes to a central point where they meet to begin the show. Along the way cheetahs appeared out of the bush and followed us, clearly very aware dinner was nearly ready. Once at our meeting point the main guy got out of his truck with a dustbin full of donkey meat and proceeded to throw it to the open mouthed and eagerly awaiting cheetahs.
We were afforded the opportunity to take close range action-photographs of these animals - and El did take some amazing photos. However, I was left feeling cold. I was not in awe or thrilled to have witnessed this by any stretch of the imagination.
I believe that local farmers are encouraged to take cheetahs preying on their livestock to farms such as this, as opposed to killing them. Yet this did not feel like a conservation project but more like a tourist trap.
I would have liked to see the real thing run by the CCF for comparison.
- comments