Otjiwarongo

WOW!

What a great weekend. We left on Friday afternoon to visit Otjiwrongo, a town north of Windhoek. It is a beautiful town a little over half way to Etosha national park. We stayed at Otjiwa Lodge. Again, the accommodations were very reasonably priced and nice. They had a large campground, self-catering cabins, and lodge or hotel style rooms. We choose the self-catering cabin which had two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a combined kitchen/living room area. The resort itself had a common room, restaurant, pool and grounds.

Chalet (pronounced sha let) #3

The bedroom we used

The back of the cabin which faced a large watering hole.

front

Restaurant 

Lounge

Pool

Fire pit


On Saturday morning we drove out to the Cheetah Conservation Fund.

This is a place dedicated to the preservation of the cheetah. The area around Otjiwarongo is known as the cheetah capital of the world and is home to the majority of wild cheetahs left in the world. The CCF works to keep cheetahs in the wild, but has a large area for cheetahs that cannot be released into the wild for numerous reasons (age, physical disabilities, etc,) While there, we learned a lot about this wonderful animal. We went on a cheetah drive around the very large fenced enclosure. This is probably the only way to see cheetahs. They are very shy animals and will  hide in the wild. Sighting of cheetahs in the wild is very rare. It is not like seeing the animals in a zoo since the cheetahs are not in cages, but  live in their native habitat on many acres.  The area allows the cheetahs to live a normal of life as possible, The guides drive you around in a safari van,


We were able to see six different cheetahs. There were more there, but they hide very well and are not easy to find.

I did not know that cheetahs do not roar--they meow and purr like house cats. We heard this one meow! She was getting ready to sleep. Cheetahs in the wild sleep with their heads up. Here, they will lay their heads down since they have no worries about lions and leopards.

 

This female cheetah has lost an eye due to a puncture from a camel thorn tree. This is an invasive species of tree that is taking over the Savannah. CCF has a program to clear these trees and turn them into logs to sell for burning for heat and cooking. 

 These are truly beautiful and amazing animals. As many of you know, we have two cats, Snickers and Izzy at home in North Carolina. It was so interesting to see the same type of behavior with these cats as we have witnessed in our pets. I guess cats are cats after all. If you are interested in learning more about the preservation of these magnificent creatures, please look up the CCF on-line. It is a world-wide program dedicated to the conservation and preservation of the cheetah. One of their most successful programs is the guard dog program. They place puppies that bond with the farmer's sheep and goats. The dog will then protect his flock from predators such as cheetahs, leopards and even lions. In this way, man is learning to live together with wild animals.This program has resulted in a 90% reeducation in cheetah kills by farmers.
We also were able to view feeding time. CCF buys old horses and donkeys to feed the cheetahs. It was fun to see them run to attack their bowl of food and clean the flesh off the bones in record time.

After CCF, we went into Otjiwawongo for a late lunch or early dinner before heading back to the resort. 

Our final treat for the day was a beautiful African sunset and wonderful star gazing. We tried to get some of the stars, but failed quite miserably. Sorry, you will just have to trust me that the night sky is absolutely the best I have ever seen.

End of day one. I will post more tomorrow.