Cheetah park

While in Namibia we visited a refuge camp for Cheetahs. Historically, humans have killed cheetahs that have hunted their livestock. Today, when farmers have Cheetahs enter their property, they call Mario at the Cheetah park and he quickly comes to remove the cheetah and pay the farmer a finders fee. The park houses 23 rescued cheetahs, 3 domestic cheetahs, and recently welcomed 2 new cheetah cubs. Highlights from the park included the Cheetah petting session, feeding the cats, and a Jack Rustle Terrier (more on that in a moment).


Petting the cats was as expected, basically, they're giant housecats. They weren't too intimidating (If lick came to shove, I think I could take one) and they purred. However, their pur is the V10 Dodge Viper equivalent of a house cat's 72' Datsun. You could feel them purring even when you didn't touch them, it was neato.

Their fur was surprisingly course and my favorite part of the Cheetahs was their eyes. They are outfitted with massive, deep hazel eyes that you could get lots in. Not in the romantic way, more of they "Wow those are beautiful, hey where's my jugular" way.

One of the cats was One-eyed-willie, the pirate cat with a blind eye. Were it not for the park, Darwin's theory would have done him in long ago.

Feeding was intense as the cats rushed toward the pickup truck we were in and tried to frighten the food out of us (having second thoughts on that "think I can take one" claim right about now). I was shocked when we visited the new recruits pen where 4 recently acquired cheetahs live. By nature, the cheetah would avoid humans like the plauge (assuming cheetahs understand communicable disease) but these 4 were forced to come out to receive their hunk of meat. They cowered, whined, and whimpered as they crawled toward their food before snatching it up and scurrying away. Mario stated it takes the cats over a year in some cases to get used to being in the presence of humans (Yeah, I could definately take a cheetah).

Without much Hullahbaloo, here's a picture of the cheetah cub. What else is there to say?

Finally, the Jack Russel Terrier. This creep of a dog was possessed, seriously. The thing barked and nipped with the ferocity of a honey badger (bet you didn't see that coming). Beside the obvious humor of a Jack Russel going balistic at animate and inanimate objects while living in a cheetah park where it is little more than a walking Hors d'oeuvre, the terrier best encompassed the intense heat that is ever present in Africa. Although I wasn't able to capture the moment on film, one afternoon while walking to the swimming pool I passed the JRT and it shot me a look that said "Every fibre of my being wants to nip your heal this very second" but due to the temperature the dog just stared. 3 hours later, once the shadows appear and things cooled off, the dog made good on it's promise.



Hurraaa! Ma sain kiisusid katsuda!. Kui keegi veel ei tea, siis votke teatavaks et kassid on mu lemmik loomad ja meil onnestus lisaks nende toitmisele ka neid paitada. Minu yllatuseks aga ei olnud nende karv yldse nii pehme kui ma oleks arvanud. Cheetad on ainsad suured kasslased kes nurruvad, kuna neil on lisa luu voi miskit taolist kurgus nagu meie kodu kassidel.