Namibia - Cheetah Farm

After leaving Etosha we headed west towards the Atlantic coast; however we made one stop along the way: A Cheetah Farm! Upon driving through there main gate we were greeted by there resident pet Giraffe. To be fair, he was only 9 months old so he wasn't yet gull grown, but he still towered over all of us by about 3 feet. He was entirely tame and had the habit of sucking on your thumb if you held it out for him to play with. You just had to watch out that he didn't step on your toes, as he still weighted a few hundred kilos. Shortly after leaving the Giraffe at the gate and venturing in to the compound we got our first glimps of a Cheetah. The farm has 3 tame Cheetahs and around 17 wild ones. We were greeted first by the tame Cheetahs as they played around us and licked our arms and legs. They were like big, fluffy, terrifying house cats. They even purred! Later in the afternoon we were picked up by the Cheetah Farm Boys * (See Note) in their trucks as they went off to feed the wild Cheetahs. It was a unique experience to have our trucks stalked like game as we drove in to the park; apparently, the Cheetahs have learned exactly where and when there food will be coming as they were sitting at the gate waiting for us to drive in. After driving into the compound for about 10 minutes, the trucks stopped and the Cheetah Boys got out amid the cats and proceeded to chuck large chunks of Donkey in all directions. The Cheetahs responded in a kind of free-for-all of chase the meat. It was hilarious and terrifying to watch. I will note however, that the Cheetahs were excelent models and they seemed very used to striking a pose for us as we took our millions of pictures. I hope you enjoy them!

* A note about Cheeta Boys or alternately, Cheeta Farm Boys: It was decided, amongst the women in out group (Mel included) that similar to Fire Fighters and the like, Cheeta Boys are an extremely "Hot" demographic of individuals.