A Weekend with Cheetahs

Yes, friends these are cheetahs and we were close enough to take these pictures on Friday at the De Wildt Cheetah Rehabilitation Center and Wildlife Reserve. The rehabilitation center takes in cheetahs that have caused problems on farms or have grown out of being cute pets. We were able to go on a little tour to feed the cheetahs. It all went quite swimmingly- the cheetahs got fed and lay down in the shade to eat. Eventually, Lydia and Ezekiel started to get a little squirmy and bored with the guide's cheetah information. Once they started climbing about in the safari truck the cheetahs perked up and approached the vehicle because they saw little "snacks" getting a bit risky with their jostling about. That made Amy a bit squeemish and we left the enclosure shortly after.

It was quite remarkable to be that close to a carnivore. If you look at their eyes you get the sense that they are thinking "You are nothing more than a potential meal and I would love to eat you." It is quite and experience to face an animal that clearly sees you only as food.

The animal here is an African Wild Dog. No, they are not cute. The noises the make are even less cute. This is part of the reason they are quite endangered. They catch rabies, distemper and other domesticated dog diseases, which causes problems. Also, people are somewhat disturbed by their choice of method for dispatching their prey. After hunting as a pack, they disembowel the prey first thing, which is understandably somewhat gross. We got to feed these animals too. They are not as interested in little children as snacks, it seems so we were less nervous in their pen.

These, as you are surely aware, are ostriches. The best thing about ostriches- even better than that thing about their heads in the sand- is the way they run. Our kids laughed and laughed as they watched these two femal ostriches run away from our car. You really have to see it to get the full sense of the comedy of these creatures movements. Let me try though...Their running can best be described as a bob and weave- including the head-with feathers and head going up and down and the birds going left and right with their feet running in that odd knees-that-bend-in-the-wrong-direction motion that's funny in itself.

Amy would be really really mad if we did not include this animal on our blog. This is a Kudu. It is pretty much Amy's favorite antelope. They are huge and their horns are a long curving and beautiful. If Amy hadn't already been married to me, the Kudu might have had a chance. She is really enamored with these magnificant animals.

In addition to the above animals we also saw the above Zebra- they remind me of striped punk rockers with mohawks. I can totally picture them with lots of piercings and lots of leather clothing. There was also a hippo we tracked all morning and finally found in his pond, impalas, and many many dumb-witted blesbok. That's the creature in the beautiful African landscape below.

One more thing to mention is how much we love warthogs. They really do look like Pumba and the best part about them is their tails that really do stand straight up. Apparently, it is a good year for warthogs. We saw at least four babies with every adult we saw. Just imagine how cute a baby Pumba would look like. Here is our best picture of a warthog.

The other creatures that we saw are not so appealing because they are an 8 inch long millipede thing and the bats that lived under the roof of our little chalet where we stayed while at De Wildt.


We will be seeing more and more animals I am sure but last weekend was certainly quite the African adventure. Stay tuned for more.