Cheetah Park

We arrived at the Cheetah Park campsite in the late afternoon in burning heat. This was a park with a number of cheetahs. A few of the cheetahs had been hand reared and were tame around people. We immediately saw one of these cheetahs laid by the gate of an adjoining house. We were given a quick debrief on how to behave around the cheetahs and were then ushered through the gates along with a group of Russian tourists. The cheetah by the gate actually led us to the back garden where we would spend time with th cheetahs. - he had clearly done this many times before. It was humbling to walk alongside such a lithe, elegant and self possessed predator. Once in the garden, two other cheetahs joined us, and we sat on the ground as they came up to lick us on the arms and legs. Their tongues were rough like sandpaper as they licked my arm and leg. They purred with pleasure just like house cats. We were able to take lots of photos and videos of these magnificent animals up close. I had a special moment of connection with one of the cheetahs when he came up behind me to lick my arm and then lifted his head to lick my neck and face. I was left with a pungent smell of cheetah one my arm. The cheetah's keeper then brought in some meat for the cheetahs which they fed on lustily, chewing hard and breaking any bones with their tough bite. After this special experience we left the garden and boarded the back of a vehicle to drive to another area of the park where there were wilder cheetahs which followed our vehicles so that we could film them walking beside the truck. At one point we stopped while the keeper threw food to the cheetahs which they fought over until all the three cheetahs had been given their fill of meat. It was again wonderful to watch and photograph these animals at such close hand. We then returned to the campsite to find a lovely camping area in the wild bush to pitch our tents. I had a busy evening helping to cook thr dinner with Lauren and Grant. Our egg fried rice with vegetables went down well with our fellow travellers. There was a stunning thin crescent moon where you could see the darker side of it because of the light still reflecting from the Earth. Above lay a large, bright Venus. The stars filled the sky on the clear sky and I watched them through the mesh of the tent as I slowly fell asleep in the cooling night air.Læs mere