African Memories

[Lisbeth]

The fact that the cheetahs had lots of space makes it easier to accept, but it is also important how they ended up there

[PJL]

Agreed - how and why the cheetahs were there is an interesting question these days. Back then we were naive and didn’t think about such things

[Pumbaa]

Indeed Incredible experience, PJL,

and the cheetah shots are fantastic

[Flutterby]

I've also petted a cheetah while it was eating....strange that they don't get protective over their food. I can't do that to my dog when it's eating!

[Mel]

One can have different opinions about the breeding programs, but fact is that you photos of them are fantastic

[PJL]

What a brilliant experience, Peej, and great pics!

Namibia has the most cheetahs per country.

Petting them and raising them is a hot topic now blah blah, but I for one think the benefits outweigh the "terrible" consequences by far...some children get bitten now and then?

How do you scan the pics?

I used to have a scanner that could process slides & negatives. So they were 'digitised' a long time back

Lots of captive cheetah in Namibia and usually tourists are told the story of breeding for conservation or rehabilitation etc.

Good for tourism only.

for some wildlife

Might well be the case Klipspringer, but as I say we were naive tourists in those days and I'm not sure there was quite the same awareness worldwide of the potential issues of captive breeding programs.

The fact that the cheetahs had lots of space makes it easier to accept, but it is also important how they ended up there

I think they may have told us when we were there but I can't remember the details now. I have a feeling they could have been orphaned. At that stage there was quite a lot of poisoning going on

Indeed Incredible experience, PJL,

and the cheetah shots are fantastic

Thanks Pumbaa

I've also petted a cheetah while it was eating....strange that they don't get protective over their food. I can't do that to my dog when it's eating!

Maybe it's a cat/dog difference
Although I can't imagine a lion being so well behaved

One can have different opinions about the breeding programs, but fact is that you photos of them are fantastic

Thanks Mel! That was with my first 'proper' camera

[Peter Betts]

I think captive predators in any petting , zoo type arrangement just have given up ..In the wild a cheetah would put up resistance before abandoning dinner. You wouldnt catch me dead within 500kms of places like that ..We have Seaview here in PE ..Dodgy place apparently ..havent been there ..and wont ever

[PJL]

During the afternoon, we took a trip to an area which belonged to the farm called the Giants Playground. It was a very apt name - the blocks of stone looked like some giants lego set



It stretched on for miles and miles



There were plenty of dassies amongst the rocks




One of the main reasons for stopping off at Quivertree Restcamp was of course to see a part of the quivertree 'forest'... more of a larger density of trees than other places as they never grow in huge numbers. Kokerboom trees get their 'quivertree' name from the San hollowing out the branches to make quivers for their arrows. The best time to see the trees was at sunset, so we took a good evening stroll around the area of the farm they suggested.










The following day we had a good drive ahead, but we made the most of our time and caught the giants playground at sunrise. It was very much worth the early rise

[Klipspringer]

A magical place

[Alf]

That is just stunning and stunning