Hello everyone,
It is not everyday one travels to see a cheetah at a cheetah outreach. Were it up to the Good Wife, that day would never have come. The kids however had other ideas and booked a spot for us at the Cheetah Outreach when it was still at Spier near Stellenbosch. It has since moved to a Somerset West spot.
The Cheetah Outreach captures hunted Cheetahs, takes in abused tame Cheetahs and nurse these endangered animals back to health!
Since the 'present' was for our anniversary, the Good Wife decided to bite the bullet and do the dirty! Not that doing the dirty on me is new to her, no sir! She is an expert at it. The kids seem to have learnt their mom's tricks along the way as well. On the exciting day we managed to stand in enough queues to get into the Cheetah enclosure and we were given the do's and don'ts of being near Cheetahs. The one that got me laughing was DO NOT RUN! Even I know Cheetahs catch their prey through running faster and using their very sharp talons and teeth next. Like all big cats, they go for the jugular!
The handlers spend nearly the whole day with Cheetahs and are more au fait with training Cheetahs than human beings, so I cannot blame them.
First we approached the enclosure to see if we could tell anything vaguely re-assuring about the normal Cheetah behaviour. All we saw were big cats lounging around in the shade (see pics) As you can see in the pic we were congregated close to the back of the reclining Cheetah with the trainer holding its head lightly
We were advised to approach the Cheetah (lying down at the time and its handler from behind. We were allowed to stroke the Cheetah's back from that position and to be alert for any untoward movement by the Cheetah. To which we are to gently semi-freeze and back away in slow motion.
Now one is not given any time to practice these unnatural movements and I suppose it should 'come naturally' once we were told exactly what to do by the Cheetah handlers. Can you imagine!! Moving slowly when a large cat seems intent on making lunch out of you? I've watched enough WWE to know how to apply a headlock even though we are warned 'never to repeat their moves at home or at school or anywhere'. The alternative fallback was to my boxing training. No idea how these cats will react to a Mike Tyson or a Manny Pacquio (more my size I think) on the jaw!!!
Weird how these interesting thoughts should pass through one's head. So let me carry on with the story. We approached in the correct slow stealthy manner, settled ourselves in a manner befitting those privileged enough to be allowed near these magnificent creatures. Then we started to stroke its back. For a while the Cheetah seemed to enjoy the gentle attention. Then, very suddenly, it rolled over on its back to stare the Good Wife and I in the face. Now for all the mental training we went through we moved (slid) backwards very quickly and stayed in that position until the trainer got the Cheetah to face away from us again.
Then I had immense trouble to get the Good Wife anywhere near this unpredictable beast again. She simply kept her distance and left me to go through the same rigmarole again. This time the Cheetah remained facing the other way. I was often told that I can put on a terrifying face. I can only imagine what my terrified face looked like at that time and therefore cannot blame the Cheetah for not wanting to sneak one further look!!
Eventually, I gave up and followed the good wife out of the enclosure.
This was the end of our Cheetah outreach adventure. My adrenaline was however still happily bouncing around in my bloodstream and it took a long and intense squash match to get rid of it. My regular opponent told me he's never seen my playing so well before. I thought the better of it to tell him about the Cheetah episode :-).
This is a short travel incident for the brave! Thanks kids!!
Keep travelling!
It is not everyday one travels to see a cheetah at a cheetah outreach. Were it up to the Good Wife, that day would never have come. The kids however had other ideas and booked a spot for us at the Cheetah Outreach when it was still at Spier near Stellenbosch. It has since moved to a Somerset West spot.
The Cheetah Outreach captures hunted Cheetahs, takes in abused tame Cheetahs and nurse these endangered animals back to health!
Since the 'present' was for our anniversary, the Good Wife decided to bite the bullet and do the dirty! Not that doing the dirty on me is new to her, no sir! She is an expert at it. The kids seem to have learnt their mom's tricks along the way as well. On the exciting day we managed to stand in enough queues to get into the Cheetah enclosure and we were given the do's and don'ts of being near Cheetahs. The one that got me laughing was DO NOT RUN! Even I know Cheetahs catch their prey through running faster and using their very sharp talons and teeth next. Like all big cats, they go for the jugular!
 |
| We were shown to the full adult Cheetah encounter because that was the ticket the kids bought us. |
The handlers spend nearly the whole day with Cheetahs and are more au fait with training Cheetahs than human beings, so I cannot blame them.
First we approached the enclosure to see if we could tell anything vaguely re-assuring about the normal Cheetah behaviour. All we saw were big cats lounging around in the shade (see pics) As you can see in the pic we were congregated close to the back of the reclining Cheetah with the trainer holding its head lightly
We were advised to approach the Cheetah (lying down at the time and its handler from behind. We were allowed to stroke the Cheetah's back from that position and to be alert for any untoward movement by the Cheetah. To which we are to gently semi-freeze and back away in slow motion.
Now one is not given any time to practice these unnatural movements and I suppose it should 'come naturally' once we were told exactly what to do by the Cheetah handlers. Can you imagine!! Moving slowly when a large cat seems intent on making lunch out of you? I've watched enough WWE to know how to apply a headlock even though we are warned 'never to repeat their moves at home or at school or anywhere'. The alternative fallback was to my boxing training. No idea how these cats will react to a Mike Tyson or a Manny Pacquio (more my size I think) on the jaw!!!
 |
| First approach |
 |
| Bit more comortable. |
Weird how these interesting thoughts should pass through one's head. So let me carry on with the story. We approached in the correct slow stealthy manner, settled ourselves in a manner befitting those privileged enough to be allowed near these magnificent creatures. Then we started to stroke its back. For a while the Cheetah seemed to enjoy the gentle attention. Then, very suddenly, it rolled over on its back to stare the Good Wife and I in the face. Now for all the mental training we went through we moved (slid) backwards very quickly and stayed in that position until the trainer got the Cheetah to face away from us again.
Then I had immense trouble to get the Good Wife anywhere near this unpredictable beast again. She simply kept her distance and left me to go through the same rigmarole again. This time the Cheetah remained facing the other way. I was often told that I can put on a terrifying face. I can only imagine what my terrified face looked like at that time and therefore cannot blame the Cheetah for not wanting to sneak one further look!!
Eventually, I gave up and followed the good wife out of the enclosure.
This was the end of our Cheetah outreach adventure. My adrenaline was however still happily bouncing around in my bloodstream and it took a long and intense squash match to get rid of it. My regular opponent told me he's never seen my playing so well before. I thought the better of it to tell him about the Cheetah episode :-).
This is a short travel incident for the brave! Thanks kids!!
Keep travelling!
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