The first part of the tour was in the north of the country. In simplistic terms, Namibia is said to have the animals in the north and the scenery in the south. The country is about the size of the UK and France put together, but with a population of just over two million. For those who don't know the history, Namibia was a German protectorate from 1892 to 1920. After the first World War, it became part of South West Africa under the rule of South Africa. The country has only been independent since 1990 and as such, is one of the world's youngest nations.
As we drove north, the first thing that struck me was how developed it was. The roads were in good condition and the buildings we passed looked like something you would see in Europe. This was along a main thoroughfare and so not representative of the rest of the country, but I was surprised at how affluent it seemed.
Our first night was at the AfriCat Foundation, which runs the largest cheetah and leopard rescue-and-release programme in the world. Indeed, Namibia accounts for around 25 percent of the world's cheetah population. In the 17 years since AfriCat was established, they have rescued over 1,000 cheetahs and leopards, and 86 percent of these have been released. The animals that they keep there are those that can't be released, which includes about 100 cheetahs today.
AfriCat has two sites in Namibia. The one we visited was at Okonjima, which apparently means "the place of the baboons". Please no. We did see a few of the critters jumping around, but happily the wild ones don't approach humans.
We were taken to see the cheetahs and one of the leopards at feeding time. We then returned to camp, ate outside around the fire and saw the remainder of 2010 out under the stars.
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| Our first camp |
http://www.africat.org/index.html
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