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Hi Carol,
I don't have much time to write today. It's Saturday and my hubby and I have a lot to do around the house. However, I would like to talk about the Cheetah (the word is "cheetah", both singular and plural), as Namibia has the largest population of this carnivore in the world.

What I would like to do is send you to a couple of websites so that you can browse them and read what is being said. There are two major Cheetah conservation farms in Namibia THAT I KNOW OF. There could be more now, as I left Namibia to go back to South Africa in 1997. One is run by an American, Laurie Marker and the other is run by husband and wife team, Wayne and Lisa Hanssen. Wayne is a Namibian born and bred and Lisa, his wife, is a Capetonian, from Cape Town, South Africa.

Their websites listed respectively are as follows:
http://www.wildnet.org/cheetah.htm and http://www.cheetah.org
http://www.africat.org

One site I would want you to look at too, just for a bit of information is the following site:
http://www.namibweb.com/africat.htm This particular site tells more of Lisa Hanssen's involvement with the big cats of Southern Africa.

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Here's a paradox I would like to put forward to you when deciding which one of these farms you would want to visit if you don't have time to visit both. It is my experience that visitors other than Americans, don't mind which of these two conservation farms they go to. I have never been to Laurie Marker's farm, so I cannot comment fairly on what she does. However, one thing she mentions on her website is, and I quote:"Although cheetahs (sic) pose no threat to human life, they are often seen as a threat to livestock". Ok, there is a lot of truth in what she says, but to say the Cheetah poses NO threat to human life is irresponsible. She lives in Namibia now and has done, and is doing, wonderful work in that country for many years, but the newspapers in Namibia, certainly when I was there, told a few stories of humans being attacked and sometimes killed by these big cats. First of all, many tourists who are travelling alone or in a party of two or three in a rented vehicle, have been known to visit cheetah "infested" areas. (I need to elaborate on the word "infested" as Cheetah are territorial and they, specifically the males, have vast territories, which they will defend to the death) Tourists are wonderful things in that once they are in Africa and on the road, and they have gotten over the shock of the absolute cosmopolitan and metropolitan nature of "darkest Africa", are lulled into a false sense of security. Off they go with their cameras, or in some cases guns in the hunting season, and the adrenaline rush makes them reckless. Here is the truth about cheetah as I have experienced them and how you, the tourist had better understand them for your own safety, OR ELSE!!!
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While the Cheetah is that fastest land animal, (It can reach speeds of up to 70 kilometres and hour when chasing a possible kill), it can only maintain that speed for a very short while before it has to give up and take a very long rest before it can attempt to make another shot at prey. Because of this, again as I know them, Cheetah can become opportunistic hunters and are even known to eat carrion. Humans are slow...I mean REEEAAALLLYYY slow compared to the magnificent Cheetah. If you are out in the wild and not in a protected area such as one of these game farms, you are as much prey to this animal as is any other animal in the area. Also, you are nice and big and oh so easy to catch. Be careful. Don't go out photographing or hunting without (again I must stress this), a CERTIFIED, meaning TRUSTED native at your side. If you find yourself at one of the numerous game farms in Namibia and the owner of that farm allows you to do either of those activities on your own, I urge you to take this as a warning that the owner of this particular farm is just after your money and doesn't care very much about your safety. LEAVE!!!

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Ok, getting back to the two Cheetah conservation farms. Because Laurie Marker is an American, some Americans either DO want to go there because they are out of their home country and are intrigued that one of their countrymen is doing such fantastic work in Africa, or they DON'T want to go there because they want the total African experience. This is not to say that Laurie doesn't offer you that, as I'm sure she does, and more. This is sad, as Laurie is, I'm told, a fantastic, warm, knowledgeable and extremely experienced person in her field of work. I think Americans should go to her farm and experience her work, for no other reason than to go and encourage her and to let her know that she is known in America. I really wish I had taken some of my tourists to her place, but the way I travelled, just made Africat the best choice for me and the people I had with me. Upon asking most of my tourists which farm they would prefer to go to, bar none said they would rather go to the farm run by the Namibian owners. Their reasons were varied, but the main one was that they didn't want to go to a farm run by a "westerner".......broadly put.....

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With the Africat Foundation, on the other hand, you have the ultimate in Wayne Hanssen in that this man is a walking encyclopaedia regarding ANYTHING African. Remember that Wayne is Namibian born and bred and he was raised on that farm. His knowledge does not just extend to things Namibian. He is an expert on the Bushman of the Kalahari Desert and he offers an early morning walk for those who want to know about these things. The last time I visited Okonjima (this is the name of the farm and it means "place of the baboons), Wayne was starting to teach others working with Africat how to do the Bushman trail as he and Lisa were absolutely swamped with work. So, to be quite honest, I really don't know if he himself is still doing these walks. Nonetheless, this man has the ultimate in sense of humour and I'm sure he will have caused it to rub off on whomever he has taught. He has a "pet" baboon named Elvis. Elvis and Wayne are something to see together. Because Elvis is male, he and Wayne often have to have "territorial fights" in order to keep the "pecking order", so to speak, between them. Of course, Elvis is no match for Wayne and one time when I was on that farm, I heard a huge commotion going on somewhere at the back of the lodge and there was just screaming and shouting and banging and all, like two people were having a big fight. Well, Elvis and Wayne WERE having a fight. Elvis had AGAIN tried to challenge Wayne's authority and had come off second best. *sigh* Some baboons never learn that we humans, or should I say THAT particular human was the Boss, with a capital "B". Elvis joins you for breakfast, lunch and supper and he drinks beer as well as any man can. Of course he is never allowed amongst the visitors without Wayne being there and if you are female, don't even think of petting Elvis, as Wayne, with a twinkle in his eye might just let you, but Elvis will retaliate. To Elvis, you are part of Wayne's tribe and females are considered "underlings" in the pack. Of course Wayne would never let Elvis hurt anyone. He's far too fast for that "monkey" LOL. But Wayne will drawl at you, if you are female, "I wouldn't do that if I were you". But the way he says it causes some over enthusiastic tourists to go ahead anyway and try to pet Elvis and I have seen Wayne have a good laugh at the expense of the visitors on occasion at Elvis's response to the cheeky females of the human race..

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His wife, Lisa, is the one that works with the big cats. In fact, back then the farm was family run and the girls worked with the cats. They don't only have Cheetah on the farm. They have Leopard, Lion and other smaller wild cats too. They once had a Lion called Matata (I hope that spelling is correct) they had raised from a cub. But as I continued to visit their farm, Matata grew into an ENORMOUS animal. I am not sure if he is still with them. Lion have a relatively short lifespan and even in captivity they don't live more than 10 years...surely...and it is 9 years since I last visited there. But Lisa is something to see with those cats. They have some tame Cheetah (three when I was last there) that they bring out every afternoon, and with Lisa or Wayne's sister, (I forget her name now) in attendance, you can touch them and pet them and take as many pictures as you like up close and personal. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cat.gif" alt="" />

need to talk more of the Africat experience as it always became the highlight of my tourist's time with me in Namibia. But I don't have time right now to write much more, so I will be back to tell you more, maybe on Monday. In the meantime, go have a look at the websites I have provided and draw your own conclusions. Write to Laurie Marker, even if you have never met her and tell her you have heard of her work. I'm sure she would love the correspondence. You can adopt Cheetah or any other wild cat at Africat, and I'm not sure, but I think you can at Laurie's place as well, so look into that too on their website. I would also like to tell you a bit more about Lisa, as she is a woman of courage and integrity and she is also gorgeous to look at. Many male visitors oggled her a lot of the time. However, the classic blonde beauty is Wayne's sister. I need to remember her name, but can't right now. Not only is she beautiful, but like Lisa, she is strong of body, mind and personality. Both those women are a delight to talk to. And ladies, you who are travelling with your husbands, you don't need to worry about them trying to make a pass at the two girls. They are both women of wonderful integrity. Wayne's sister, when I was last there, was not yet married, but she might be now....I don't know.

So much to tell and so little time......... I hope you are enjoying the stories. Some of what I am saying to you might sound a bit scary, but I do need to let you know that you need to be careful in some areas. So many people are just armchair travellers because they just can't afford the exhorbitant prices the travel agents charge. So, I am going to encourage you to try it alone. Do your homework. The roads are very good in Namibia, as are the amenities. Even the gravel (dirt) roads are in good shape. The infrastructure of the country is pretty sound and you can go it alone if you have the courage and the wherewithall to do it. Also, you will save a fortune, you won't be tied down to schedules and you will have a lot of fun.

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If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. If I don't know the answer, I will find it out for you and post it here.
Have a good weekend
Kitty. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/thanks.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />