I got my 4X4, my camping gear, groceries, and I picked up Mom. Now it’s time to hit the road, so we headed north toward the town of Otjiwarongo, where we’ll be spending the next two nights. First we have to take a detour through the small Okonjima Game Reserve. Pretty much as soon as we enter the gate, we see two white rhinos. Moms first time in Africa, first safari, and she bags a pair of rhinos on the first day. Lucky duck!

We also spotted a herd of gemsboks, some impalas, springboks, three zebras, and a couple of giraffes on the way to our official destination.

That official destination was the Africat Foundation, which runs educational programs and a medical clinic/rescue for Africa’s big cats. They try to rehabilitate and release the cats back into the wild, and when they can’t, they take care of them at the foundation.

After getting the tour of the clinic we were off on a short drive. The leopards were unfortunately not able to be viewed, but we got a nice little tour of the cheetah enclosure for some up close and personal.

The cheetahs weren’t doing much except avoiding the midday sun, but it’s always awesome to see these guys up close.

On the way out of Okonjima, our zebras and the rhinos had disappeared, but we found the giraffes again.

We checked in at our guesthouse in Otjiwarongo and enjoyed a really pleasant evening. Early the next morning we left before sunrise for our second excursion to visit the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). Yes we are overdosing on cheetahs.

We arrived and signed in for the days activities, starting with the cheetah run. The CCF, like the Africat Foundation, strives to rehabilitate and release cheetahs back into the wild. They currently have 27 cheetahs that can’t be released for various reasons, however.

All the cheetahs get exercised two to three times per week by chasing a lure around much like greyhound races. And today we get to watch one of the planet’s fastest land mammals run right in front of our eyes. Awesome!

When the cheetah catches the lure they get rewarded with lots of meat to eat.

They run only a few of the cheetahs each day. Today we got to see three of them. Cheetah number two seemed to be the most enthusiastic.

The third cheetah is the only one whose name I can remember, Rocket. Rocket seemed more mischievous and uncooperative, but he managed to get the job done.

After the run, the cheetahs are led back to their respective enclosures and we start our cheetah drive in a safari jeep through one of the very large enclosures where five cheetahs are waiting. They weren’t all together, but we did get to see all five. This first one was just chilling in some shade.

The next two were still pretty active and we had to keep driving alongside them to keep up. All of sudden, one of them decided to jump up onto a termite mound for a better view, right next to the vehicle! It was a very unexpected show, even our guide was excited about it.

Eventually, she climbed down off of the termite mound and the two of them seemed to settle down, so off we went to find more.

Our fourth cheetah was extremely shy and not into it at all, so we didn’t bother her too much. Instead we went to find number five chilling in the shade.

Cheetah overdose complete, I decided to take us to see some dinosaur footprints near the Waterburg Plateau, but after about fifty miles we discovered that a permit was required to enter and we weren’t allowed in. Plus the views around the plateau were super hazy anyway. I think there was a fire somewhere nearby, at least that’s what it smelled like. I guess we’ll just have to be satisfied with the cheetahs for today. No problem!

In the morning on the way out of Otjiwarongo we decided to stop in at the local crocodile farm. It’s a lodge/restaurant/crocodile rescue. The crocs in the big adult enclosure all looked super fat to me. Turns out, they’re all pregnant. They lay eggs every September and the eggs hatch every December.

There’s also separate enclosures for adolescents and for the babies. So we got to see crocs of all different sizes.

The babies were really cute, but don’t get too close to those mouths. They can still take a finger off if they get the chance. We even got to hold one.

Otjiwarongo is just a quick stop on our way further north, but there’s more of Namibia to come so take a lesson from our cheetah friends, climb up on a termite mound and be on the lookout for more…