Cheetahs!

Today was all about the cheetahs, which is pretty much the reason why I chose to come to Namibia, home to the largest number of cheetahs.

Our group spent the morning looking at pictures from camera traps to identify the various animals that were snapped by the stealth camera. Since it's kind of a one-person job, I snuck off for a bit to visit the tame springbok in the yard (it has arthritis). She was in a makeshift enclosure to prevent the jackal from annoying her, and she had the sweetest eyes I've ever seen.

Some of the others snuck off to play with the kids from the onsite school.

And it turned out I wasn't the only one watching.

After muffin break, I rejoined my group to make a visit to the cheetah enclosure to set up traps so that two of them could be moved to a different enclosure. Those traps were heavy - I can't imagine how much heavier they must be with a full grown cheetah inside!

We used sticks to guard the people doing the heavy lifting, and the cheetahs came over quickly to investigate the traps as soon as we stepped away. We left the traps there for a few days for the cheetahs to get used to them, and they will probably be triggered in a few days.

We broke for a quick lunch and regrouped to clean the enclosure of a cheetah duo that are frequently used for photoshoots and movies.

We went in armed with yellow buckets to pick up any bones and poo that we came across.

They were a bit curious as to what we were doing and wandered over to investigate.

Maybe they were were grateful to their cleaners, since they both came over and we got to have a impromptu photoshoot with them. They are just so beautiful, and their purr sounds like an engine idling. It was beyond amazing!

We also visited Baloo, an eight year old cheetah who just recently arrived at the sanctuary.

We learned all about cheetah paw prints and how they can be used to identify each cheetah, much like fingerprints.

We tried to convince Baloo with some chunks of meat to get him to make tracks on the freshly raked dirt.

Cheetahs have a terrible sense of smell so the trick is to hold up a piece of meat and make sure he's got his eye on it by waving it from side to side before tossing it. Otherwise, he'll have a hard time finding it even if it's right below his nose.

He got a little snippy at times...

But the little hunks of meat definitely got his attention!

It was far and away my favourite day at Na'ankuse and the perfect way of ending my time at Na'ankuse! I couldn't wait for Neuras tomorrow!

Feeding the Carnivores

Today I dug a hole. Really. I did other very cool and interesting things, but most of the day was spent with a spade and 50 cm of hard packed dirt that just wouldn't shift. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The day started with a bracing cold wash (the hot water is on only from 4:30-10:00pm), and then I walked over to the lapa area for breakfast. I always pass the cheetah cub enclosure to get to the rest of camp from my tent, and it's pretty amazing that this is the first thing that greets me in the mornings.

But they weren't that keen on getting caught being playful and messing about. I guess they have a reputation to maintain.

As a new joiner, I first went to induction where they reminded us of all the animals that could eat/kill us such as the puff adder. They can get as much as three meters long and as fat as your arm. We were assured that they're not common, but we found a lovely example hanging out by one of the tents the very next day. Oops.

We then helped some of the others with food preparation where I made the day's food for the baby warthogs. Milliepap is pretty gross - I think it's a corn porridge, and the texture is just yuck.

Luckily, the staff is responsible for butchering the horses and donkeys that are fed to the carnivores. The animals aren't fed cows or goats or anything resembling livestock in case they're released and develop a taste for it. Farmers are much more likely to shoot a big cat that's attacking their cattle than not.

Besides, I'm not sure how I'd fare against the meat machine. I'm guessing not well, and one of the staff was sporting a bandage from a nasty run-in with the blade.

After induction, I met up with my assigned group - all girls and one guy. They were a pretty chill group, and we jumped into the back of a pick up truck packed full of water, large hunks of meat and a split donkey head.

It's amazing that the animals are accustomed to coming when they see the truck - they know that we're bringing them food and run right alongside the truck.

We fed the leopards first, and I utterly failed in my attempt to chuck the giant hunk of meat over the fence. I think I was too terrified to see straight, let alone throw. Luckily, the leopard was able to swipe the meat with his giant claws. I later redeemed myself when I fed the cheetahs, probably because I figured that I could survive a bite or two from a cheetah whereas I would be a goner if a leopard ever decided I'd make a tasty morsel.

As you can see, most of the cats jump up for their meat and the more skittish ones run off with it after they snatch it from the air so they can dine in peace.

By the end of the drive, we had fed the leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, wild dogs and lions. The lions were the lucky recipients of the donkey head.

We took a break for lunch (nothing gets your appetite going like handling half a donkey's head) and washed off some of the congealed blood. I was on my way to rejoin my group when I was flagged down to herd some goats. Sure, why not? Luckily, it turned out I'm a far better goatherd than I am a leopard meat thrower.

Our group piled back into the truck with our spades and some Bushmen to dig a foundation for the platform being erected over the wild dog enclosure. It turns out that digging a hole in the dirt is much more exciting when a herd of thirty wild dogs want to take a bite out of your bottom!

We had three sentries guarding us with long sticks if the dogs came too close. Before we entered the enclosure, our coordinator reminded us that wild dogs don't kill before eating their prey and that their bite is gangrenous. Oh, and the entire group will coordinate an attack on a single target rather than spreading out. It was even less reassuring to see how reluctant the Bushmen were to enter the enclosure.

I just hunkered down and focused on digging that hole as fast as possible so we could get out of there. Some safari guests came trucking on over to watch us - fun for them, not so much for us. We packed it in at sunset, and I was relieved that we all made it in one piece back to camp for a good wash and well-deserved dinner.

Living in an Animal World

J has been crazy busy at work, and I haven't been so crazy busy at home so I got a bee in my bonnet about taking a trip on my own. My parents always had the Discovery Channel on the TV when I was a kid, and I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by cheetahs. It seemed like a good idea to see them in person, and I booked a two week-long volunteer gig at Na'ankuse Wildlife Sanctuary in Namibia to get up close and personal with the cats.

It was a long flight to Namibia, including a layover in Johannesburg. I met with the driver and another volunteer, Monja, at the airport in Windhoek, and we drove the 40km or so to the sanctuary. Namibia is the second least populated country, and all I could see was dry brush during the drive.

Once we pulled in the sanctuary, we were shown to our tents, which was a short walk away from the main buildings. I was to be the lone occupant of this grand palace...

We quickly dropped off our things and began exploring some of the grounds while the others were still away on their afternoon activities. 

Luckily, we ran into Josh, a long-time volunteer, who offered to take us into a cheetah enclosure. Samira is a 14 year old cheetah whose teeth aren't in great shape due to her previous owners not feeding her the proper food. She's living out her twilight years at Na'ankuse, and she's still stunning to behold.

She patiently let us pet her, and I tried not to mind the fact that she hadn't been fed yet and she had some massive drooling going on. 

We visited the baby warthogs afterward, and they were more curious about us then we were of them! They tried to eat pretty much everything attached to us including shoelaces and pocket flaps. By the way, my shorts and shoes were clean before I got in with the three little piggies!

We also saw lots of random animals such as peacocks and duikes wandering about.

The sanctuary also functions as a farm so they also have typical farm animals such as sheep, chickens, and goats.

The vervet monkeys also warranted a visit, and we petted them through the fencing. They were perfectly friendly and sweet, and it was only later that we found out that they were supposed to be vicious due to mistreatment by the previous owners. We didn't see any of that and stroking their fingers weirded out me a little as their little hands are just like ours!

The sun sets quickly here and is gone around 5:30pm, and the day's heat rapidly dissipates soon thereafter. It's cold enough for people to huddle around the bonfires after dinner, and I had to put on multiple layers. The drop in temperature happens so quickly that it's a bit of a shock.

Time also moves as slow as molasses since there is pretty much nothing to do - no internet, no TV, no mobile phones. There is music if someone plugs in their ipod to the communal speakers, and the only light is from your flashlight. As you can imagine, people turn in pretty quickly, and I found myself tucked into bed by 9pm most nights snoozing away to the sound of jackals, baboons, and a distant lion's roar.