Cats and Dogs

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Yesterday's trip had left me feeling pretty morose and an evening spent alone in my dingy hostel room did nothing to improve matters. I did however plan a trip to visit De Wildt Cheetah Research Centre assuming that while Johannesburg may have been a disappointment these beautiful cats were sure to cheer me up. I packed my bag and took a book outside to wait for my taxi. I sat on a bench in the sunshine, looking forward to my trip even though the taxi seemed to be running a little late. It was while I was sitting on the bench that a member of staff came out and said 'We need your room.' What followed was a ridiculously stressful process where the staff demanded I move rooms because they had a family arriving who needed the larger room and I had been told the upgrade was only for one night, and I in turn pointed out they had never said it was definite and despite the fact I had spoken to them several times over the last couple of days they had at no point given me a time to quit my room nor suggested I start moving my things. I was furious they actually expected me to move rooms when I was obviously waiting to leave for the day and had left all my things out in the room, especially as it would have been so easy for them to ask me last night if I could switch rooms in the morning. Finally I gave up, not wanting to still be stuck in arguement when my taxi arrived. The staff still did not find it necessary to apologise or offer me help as I ran backwards and forwards with my things. I returned to my spot in the sun silently fuming over the hostel's disorganisation, and the sheer rudeness of the staff. I thought I was being organised booking all my hostels in Jo'burg before departing home, especially since bizarrely the prices of rooms seemed to go up the later I left it. Now I am just regretting I have to come back to this same hostel at the end!
My taxi finally arrived and the driver leapt out calling 'We're going to see the cheetaaaaahs!' I found myself in the back seat with two girls from Holland who had just been picked up from the airport. After dropping them at their hostel in Pretoria we continued on with only me left. I forgot the morning's stresses as we drove out of the city and into the countryside. The surrounding views were impressive as we wound our way up the mountain roads. We soon arrived at the Cheetah Centre and the driver helpfully escorted me inside, showed me where everything was, sorted out my ticket for me and left me at the cafe where I could get some lunch. My lunch finished I returned to the pretty central garden and collapsed in a patch of sunlight to await the start of the tour.
Finally the tour guide arrived and I joined a local family and a couple who were also taking the tour. We sat in indoors and got a quick lecture on the purpose and origins of the cheetah centre. The cheetah centre was started in the 1960s by Ann van Dyk. Originally captive rearing some abandoned cheetah cubs in he rhome she was denied a permit to start the centre because she had not followed the proper procedures and gained permission from the legal authorities to keep the cheetah cubs. The cheetahs were taken away and placed in a zoo and Ann began a long battle to reclaim the cheetah cubs.
Eventually the De Wildt Cheetah Research Centre was founded and Ann began trying to breed cheetahs in captivity, something that had never been successfully done. It was several years before the first cubs were born. Initially they tried pairing adult cheetahs together but found they wouldn't breed. Deciding it was better to let the animals choose their own mates the staff at the centre came up with the idea of 'lovers lane'. The females were put into enclosures either side of the lane and the males were allowed to strut their stuff until a female showed interest at which point he'd be let into the enclosure with her. Since in the wild females are solitary, except when with their cubs, they do not tolerate the male for long and after a couple of hours the staff would have to go and rescue the male from the enclosure.
Although the research centre managed to get the cheetahs to mate no cubs were born as a result. After further research it was realised that the meat they were feeding the cheetahs, mostly beef and lamb, was too fatty and had caused the cheetahs to be unfit with high colestral. They changed the cheetahs' diet and began feeding them chicken and horse meat. The centre has an ongoing agreement with local farms that when their horses die or are put down, instead of paying for them to be taken away for burial or cremation they are given to the centre for the cheetahs.
Eventually all the hard work paid off and seven cheetah cubs were born. In successive years many more cubs were born and it is in part due to the work of the centre that the cheetah is now off the endangered species list.
We started our tour visiting, not the cheetahs, but some honeybadgers, including an albino one. Our guide warned us that the animals are possibly the meanest creatures out there and have been known to send the large predators, like lions, running. Apart from being particularly ferocious little creatures the interesting thing she told us about them is that baby cheetahs have very similar fur to the honeybadgers as young cubs. Ther eis a theory that this is to warn off predators. Any predator seeing what appears to be a honeybadger will give it a wide berth rather than approaching and perhaps finding it is only a helpless cheetah cub. Although this remains only a theory it is true that more cheetah cubs are killed at an older age after they start to lose their dark baby fur and begin to look more like adult cheetahs.
We walked on to the first of the cheetah enclosures and it was amazing to see the animals so close. Cheetahs are particularly elegant creatures and it was a pleasure to watch them...even as they dived face first into their dinner!
Cheetahs tend to live in the open savannahs and can run up to 60mph over short distances. As its slender build and relatively small size make the cheetah unsuited for conflict it cannot scavenge or steal food from other predators and it must hunt for fresh meat every day. To increase its chance at catching prey and not losing the meal the cheetah hunts during the day unlike most other predators who will hunt at night. The distinctive 'tear' markings over the eyes help the cheetah hunt during the day and act almost like sunglasses, detracting the glare of the sun from its eyes.
The other interesting thing I learnt is that cheetahs hunt one animal at a time. When a herd of impala panic and run the cheetah stays focused on the one individual. The animal they hunt is usually the firsst one to move and there have been cases of cheetahs jumping over impala still sitting in the grass as they chase one of the others in the herd.
Our guide gave us useful tips on how to survive a cheetah attack. Since cheetahs are very delicate and not built for conflict the best thing to do is make yourself appear as big and threatening as possible and stand your ground... and if not, at least make sure your friend runs first!
We left the first cheetah enclosures and got on the safari vehicle. We drove past the first few enclosures. I saw an African Wildcat which surprised me by being so small. It looked rather like a small tabby cat. Simialr to the Scottish Wildcat in appearance it faces the same problem. Both species have been known to breed with feral cats and as a result the pure wildcats are in danger of dying out.
Next to the wildcat was an enclosure with a couple of caracals in. I was really excited to see them. The tour guide acted like they were nothing special, and indeed they are very widespread, but I've only ever seen them in pictures before and I've always thought they are lovely with their russet coats and long ear tufts. We saw brown hyenas and ostriches and a group of African wWilddogs and then we got to the best part of the trip, actually driving through the large enclosures with the animals.
The tour guide grinned at us as she asked if we were ready to be chased by wild dogs, and then we drove into the enclosure and the excited pack ran around us and chased the vehicle. We stopped at the far end of the enclosure and a member of staff fed the dogs. It was amazing to just sit in the jeep while the dogs ran from one side to the other trying to decide which lot of food was better.
I like the African Wild dogs. They are so pretty. They seem to have a reputation for being really vicious animals, in part because they kill by ripping out the heart and lungs of their prey and technically eating them alive. In reality wild dogs are incredibly efficient hunters and kill their prey quickly. Wild dogs can kill a full grown impala in 20 seconds compared to a lion who may take as much as 13 minutes to kill the prey by suffocation.
African wild dogs are very sociable. Joy and George Adamson, of Born Free fame, reported seeing packs of dogs with as many as 80-100 individual animals hunting in Kenya in the 1960s. Now packs are more likely to nuber 10-15 individuals and the wild dog is on the endangered species list. This is mostly due to farmers killing them as pests. Our tour guide also pointed out that wild dogs just aren't popular. Tourists visit Africa to see the Big 5, no-one asks to see wild dogs. Since the dogs aren't bringing in the tourists, and therefore the money, the government does not prioritise their protection. It is a shame becasue they are beautiful animals and it would be a great loss if they disappeared from the wild.
It is also interesting that unlike most other species the wild dog does not reject the old, sick and injured animals from the pack. Every member of the pack is cared for. When the pack returns from hunting those individuals who were left behind approach the returning dogs submissively. The hunters then regurgitate food so the rest of the pack can eat.
After watching the dogs for some time and taking lots of photos we left... with the strict instruction we are to always ask to see wild dogs every time we go on safari so the governments learn us tourisrs come to Africa to see the Big 5, and the wild dog!
We drove into the next enclosure to see the cheetahs. I couldn't believe it when I looked down and saw a fully gorwn cheetah running beside the vehicle, so close at times that I could have reached out and touched it. We stopped to see the cheetahs fed and were incredibly lucky as instead of eating and disappearing into the bushes the two cheetahs sat down beside us, quite content to pose for endless photographs. The two cheetahs we saw are actually brother and sister. The female uncharacteristically seems to enjoy having company and likes to stay with her brother. The pair stayed close to us for a long time and I was dleighted to see such beautiful animals so near me. I feel so privaledged!
We eventually left and drove back to the main building. We passed several other enclosures on the way and saw a king cheetah. the king cheetah is not a seperate species as was once believed. the distinctive pelt, with the spots elongated and merged into stripes in places, is caused by a recessive gene. The king cheetah is very rare and at one time was though to be extinct. It has been successfully bred at the De Wildt Cheetah Centre since 1981.
Back at the main building I browsed in the gift shop and signed up for the opportunity to touch one of the 'ambassadors'. The centre has several ambassadors, cheetahs who are used for educational visits to schools and colleges, or for filming and photography. The centre has released a few cheetahs into the wild but not many. Wild territories are growing scarcer and it is important to keep some areas empty so if a wild cheetah begins to cause problems there is a safe place to move them. Wild cheetahs do not adapt to captivity and usually die within 6-9 months of being captured. The centre protects these animals by using their captive bred cousins for educational purposes. they also supply zoos and parks with captive bred cheetahs to discourage anyone from attempting to capture a wild cheetah.
I love the way the guide described the faces of the kids when the cheetah strolled in on a school visit and jumped onto the teacher's desk! I always though having chicks in class was exciting, I can't imagine having a cheetah in the classroom!
I followe dthe guide to the other cheetah enclosures and stopped to say hello to their beautiful Anatolian Shepherd Dog who lives with their goats. The Turkish bred dog is one of the ways farmers can now protect their flocks without killing cheetahs or other big cats. The dog lives with the flock or herd and comes to think of them as its family. It will protect them against all intruders. usually the presence of an angry dog is enough to deter the cat but in a few cases where the cat continues the dogs have been known to successfully fight off even a full grown leopard.
I took my turn walking into the enclosure to meet Charlotte the cheetah. She was already sprawled out on a bench with her handler. I was able to walk behind and stroke her. It was an amazing experience. She was so tolerant of my presence and just lay there purring loudly. I didn't realise cheetahs purr. It was such a loud sound and her whole body rumbled with it. I got a few photos with her and then left her in peace.
I finally returned to the car park and met my patient driver who began the long drive back to Johannesburg with me.

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Comments

[barnaby davies]

Fantastic photos
Did you really take those pictures? Surely they are saleable..

[AnnaAdventuring]

Of course I took them! The only pictures in my blog I haven't taken would be the ones that have me in them! Thanks for the compliment though. :)