Travel to Cheetah Reserve and Start Learning -- 3/9-11

It's about a 4 hour drive from Windhoek to the Cheetah Conservation Fund location which is at least 30 minutes east of Otjiwangoro, north of Windhoek. We had chosen to rent Babson House, which included all our meals (including a private chef for breakfast and dinner), a view of part of the reserve, and a number of educational activities. We were kept quite busy! (If you go to Cheetah.org and look at the visit section, there are photos of the home interiors. It had an impressive beverage collection too.)

Babson House was a short walk to the main campus of the reserve. It is a 2 bedroom/3bath home with a living and dining room, a compact kitchen with coffee making facilities and an impressive wine selection. Best of all, it has a veranda that overlooks an enclosure for two young cheetah brothers.

Above and below: the brothers outside our veranda

A rainbow and sunset from the veranda

Cheetahs arrive here injured or as babies whose mothers are gone. As many of them as possible are released into back into the wild after they heal, but some are too injured or orphaned so young that they didn't get their mother's training on how to hunt. Those that will stay in captivity are kept near the  main campus. The ones that will be released have larger enclosures away from the campus. 

Over the 48 hours we were there, we participated in twice daily feedings for the 'local' cheetahs, a cheetah run,  behind the scenes, learning about the DNA lab,  a cheetah drive, the model farm, the Bushblok project, the Ecology Department, and a late afternoon game drive, and dinner with the founder, Dr. Laurie Marker. 

We started out with feeding the close-in cheetahs. They get a slab of meat in a bowl deep enough to mimic how they eat in the wild with their face inside the prey's body. There is an arrangement of remotely operated doors so staff can enter the cages safely, deposit the bowls, exit, and let the cats in.

 The next event was meeting a 'Scat Dog', a Belgian Malinois who is scent-trained to detect cheetah and wild dog poop, which is used in the DNA lab. Sandy and her husband late have contributed to the foundation for 20 years, and 8 years ago, they assisted with the purchase of the dog we met.

The DNA lab is staffed by scientists pursuing PHDs related to carnivore conservation genetics. CCF housed one of only three advanced specialized DNA machines in Namibia. The other two are in a hospital and a crime lab. This fact alone gives you an idea of how creative and effective the founder, Dr. Laurie Marker, is.

The next day, Sandy went out to the veranda early for a coffee and heard a motor-like sound -- looking down into the enclosure, she discovered one of the brothers was right below her and purring loudly. 

We had a busy day, which started with a cheetah run. The cheetahs that will not be released get exercised and the process tries to mimic their life in the wild. There is an elaborate set of pulleys and twine that can be controlled from a safe distance. A lure is attached to one end and the cheetahs take turns chasing in and usually catch it, but not easily. They are rewarded with hand-fed meat morsels. Cheetahs are picky eaters and will only eat fresh meat, unlike other cats (like leopards who store their kill in trees for later dining). I tried taking photos of the runs on repeat, but you have to flip through the stills quickly to get a sense of how fast they were.

Then we headed to the Model Farm. Local farmers are inclined to shoot cheetahs when they see them even if the cheetah hasn't preyed on the goat herd. They are supposed to only kill the killers but hatred for big cats runs deep. Dr Laurie thought that it might be possible to teach dogs to protect the herds and teach the farmers to appreciate them and sell the trained dogs at a reasonable rate. (People in general tend to value the tools/support they pay for, even minimally, more than those that are free.) 

They have also encouraged farmers to switch to milk goats from food goats. It provides a more stable and continuous income and the milking goats can work productively for years, reducing the costs of enlarging/replacing the herds. They also encourage farmers to synchronize breeding vs a more natural method. It is easier to manage weaning, vaccines, worming once a year vs throughout the year and healthier for the goats too.

To protect the herds, Anatolian sheepdogs are trained to bond with the goats and act as leaders and protectors in the bush. Puppies are minimally handled by people to encourage the dog/goat bond. Unlike herding dogs, the sheepdog is an integral part of the herd and the goats will follow the dog willingly. The dog also is a deterrent to predators. Interestingly, one of the biggest dangers for the dogs is snakes and virtually all of them in Africa are venomous, so the CCF created a training program to teach puppies to avoid snakes.  

The photos below posted in reverse order and it is not fun to move them into the proper sequence. This will make more sense if you start with the one of the sign and move up.

The goats basically follow the dog wherever it goes.

A litter of puppies was just born and we got to see it.

Our next adventure was the cheetah drive, where we took a truck out to the enclosures where the some of cheetahs live. I rode in the cab, but since Sandy was a notable contributor there, she was invited to ride in the back of the truck and toss meat to the cats when the run was done. She LOVED it and said that blood on your hands could indicate a good day.  The truck did not dawdle and the cats definitely got a work out. You can see that this is a more spacious enclosure for these cats and they get much less interaction with people.

Sandy's toss -- she started to define a good day
as one with blood on her hands.

There are also a few wild or painted dogs here
and Sandy fed them too.

That little blip in the sky is a
 hunk of meat

Some of the cheetahs take medicine which is
hand fed inside meat pieces

This cheetah is going for a small
meat chunk just behind his head.

We spent some time learning about the tracking program, what they're learning and how it's changing. Before we came to Africa, Sandy got us stone bracelet produced by an app called Fahlo that gives an alert when your beast moves somewhere new. It is an interesting organization, not limited to Cheetahs. My bracelet was for Duma, who was released by CCF back to the wild and seems to have a pretty wide range. While we were in Africa, he went a completely new place and hung around for several weeks, traveling much less that previous months. My guess was he found a girl friend, got his business done and now he has moved on. When we learned about the release and tracking program, we saw examples of the original collar and the new ones.  The batteries last about 2 years and the new smaller, lighter collar includes a camera so they can learn more about how the cats survive.

The white one is the current collar. The new 
one is smaller and lighter.

In the late afternoon, we went on a game drive in an unfenced area of property. There was not the wide range of animals in other locations, but still fun. We also discovered that Guinea hens are really dumb when they tried to outrun our truck instead of getting off the road. Lots of photos follow.

Jackal

The road is gated and apparently
Google maps is wrong

Secretary bird - stomps on its prey. They can
be 4-5 feet tall.

The termite mounds here are out in the open
instead of being wrapped around trees as in
other areas

Springbok. They don't run as much as leap
repeatedly

Scenery

A variety of bee eater. I had seen
2 other colors of them in 2016.
They're small and flit so much
that they're hard to photograph

Guinea hens trying to outrun us for forever

Above and below: Oryx herd

More Springbk

This is the best I could do to capture the leaping 
run --they suddenly bounce straight up

After a wine and snack stop, we got back to the Babson house and our dinner with the founder and her partner. We learned about the challenges of his Bushblok project, which we visited the next day. They are grinding up unneeded trees and bushes to make into an eco fuel. Some of the wood used is so tough that the specialized screw-shaped cutter goes dull in a matter of hours.

Our last day included plenty of time to get to the airport 4-5 hours away for our 8 pm flight. We had the morning for more exploration. Sandy got to toss meat to the cheetahs again, and we visited the Bushblok facility. Not all of the harvested wood is chopped up. The high quality hardwood is sold to Norway for woodworking projects. The wood is chipped in several stages, each getting finer. The end  product is a log sort of like a small (but more natural version) of what is in a duraflame package.

This is the problematic screw

The end result

Afterwards, we went to lunch and I looked for a place to put one of Jim's marbles. I often hide them in rock walls or toss them into the water (he was definitely a water baby), but I struggled finding a good place here. I wanted somewhere overlooking the main public enclosure and ended up with the most public placement yet - wedged in a tree but not hidden if you know where to look. I am not confident that the marble will stay in tree, but Jim loved a good adventure and could well-enjoy his future travels.

This shows the primary enclosures in background
and the marble hard to find unless you look
below for where it's wedged in.