Next stop was Kamanjab & the Cheetah Farm. It was incredible, we spent about an hour hanging out with 3 "tame" cheetahs. When I say tame, what I really mean is that they are all snuggles with their handlers & quite inquisitive about us but not too keen on being cuddled up to. So much so that after about 10 minutes we were advised to stay away from one of them cos she had "had enough"....translation "she is ready to eat someone!".
So the cheetahs wandered around the yard, stretched, licked our hands, climbed the trees, stretched some more & played chasey.
The funniest part was when the pet Jack Russell snapped at the heels of one of the cheetahs once too often & the cheetah took off after it. They also had a feed while we were there.....nice fresh zebra steaks! Of course I was in my element, they are just like pussy cats....only spotted, have giant teeth & weigh about 200kgs.
After the fun of dinner time with the tame kitties, it was time to go out into the park for the real thing....feedtime for 16 wild cheetahs! As soon as we got to the gate the cheetahs started appearing out of the bush. These guys were much skinnier than the tame ones & they had a much harder look in their eyes but they still had the elegant walk & the stunning spotted coats. We drove for a few minutes into the park & the cheetahs followed from a safe distance. When we stopped, they encircled the ute & trailer (did I mention we were standing up in the back of the trailer??) & started licking their lips. It was a slightly disturbing feeling watching 16 hungry, wild cheetahs eye you off as a possible entree!
Then the show began......the first piece of meat was thrown out into the crowd of hungry cheetahs & they growled, fought, smacked & snarled at each other before one came out the winner with a slab of zebra in its mouth before taking off into the distance! This was repeated until all the cheetahs had grabbed a piece each.
There was one close call though....as I was bobbed down at the back of the trailer looking through the camera lens, a cheetah came walking into the frame (roughly level with my head) & as I went to photograph it, we made eye contact & I swear I saw it consider jumping into the the trailer with me.....a very scary split second passed as I moved quickly back & one of the handlers disctracted it from the front of the trailer. Pheew!! What stunning, regal creatures though.....yep, another animal to add to my ever-expanding zoo :)
The wild life encounters continued over the next couple of days as we spent 3 1/2 days in Etosha National Park. We went on an afternoon game drive & were lucky enough to see a whole pride of lions - mum, dad, teenagers & babies - sooooo cute!They were all gathered around the watering hole at the same time as a handful of elephants, some zebra & a giraffe. A couple of the teenaged lions were a bit frigtened of the elephants & it was funny to see them give the elephants a wide berth which actually brought them closer to us than the elephants! Made us realise who the lions consider the bigger predator. We were lucky enough to be able to watch the lions for over an hour before it was sunset & time to be out of the park. What a priviledge being able to observe the behaviours & heirarchy in a pride of 16 lions, just mesmorising.
The other cool thing about stayng in Etosha is that there are watering holes inside all the campsites which are lit up at night. This actually attracts more animals because they feel safer drinking there because the predators are easier to spot. So there are seats set up around the water that is raised, fenced off & a far enough away that it's safe but close enough that the view is amazing. This way we were able to observe rhinos in the water, giraffes, elephants, jackals & a lion. The night we saw the lion we went to bed & not long after we heard the lioness calling her family. About 10 mintues later we heard footsteps thudding through the camp, between our tents.....our first thought was "lions - arrrhhhhh" but a quick peak through the window revealed a couple of cheeky jackals scavenging for food....pheeeew!!
During the rest of our game drives we had lots more spectacular wildlife encounters. On one occasion we stumbled across a husband & wife lion trying to have some sexy time. The big boy did not look happy at all with us for inturupting & threw us dirty looks over his shoulder as he & his lady disappeared into the bush. Another time we watched a pride of lionesses lazing in the early morning sun, digesting the big meal they had enjoyed the night before....they all lay around in a meat coma while the babies climbed all over them & drove them mad.
On our very last morning, at the very last watering hole, on the way out of the park we hit the jackpot.....A LEOPARD. We couldn't believe our eyes, it is so rare to see one that even our guide Peter has never seen one in all the years he's been driving in Etosha. She was aware of us immediately but she kept her cool, finished her drink & then blended back into the bush. What was funny though was another safari vehicle was just down the road & they had stopped to look at some antelopes or something & we were all waving them over & saying "Screw the antelopes, we've gotta leopard!!". Their loss.
We could not have asked for a better end to our stay in Etosha National Park.....& I can finally say that I have seen the BIG 5!
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