July 2024 noticed me returning to the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia fifteen years after I’d first visited as a working visitor.
As I used to be pushed down the lengthy observe from the principle street, I might see the distinctive form of the Waterberg Plateau dominating the panorama and my first impression was that the whole lot was precisely as I remembered it. However, as I used to be welcomed and proven across the website, I might see that every one the fantastic, inspiring conservation tasks at CCF had grown and developed since I used to be final there in 2009. Over the subsequent two weeks, I used to be reminded of CCF’s holistic method to conservation at regional, nationwide and worldwide ranges.
My time as a working visitor was various and totally different each day. My first day noticed me allotted to the Cheetah Group, first watching the day by day cheetah run – when the youthful cheetahs are exercised and vacationers are launched to the work of CCF – after which getting ready meat with dietary supplements and, the place vital, remedy for the twenty-eight cheetahs at present in residence. My knife abilities improved and I discovered the way to take away fats, gristle and damaged bones from the meat earlier than it was given to the cheetahs. By no means has a nail brush been so helpful than after a session within the meat room!
Feeding the person cheetahs diversified from serving up dishes of sentimental, pre-digested mince for the older cats to leaving bigger lumps of meat in enclosures for cheetahs who have been rehabilitating earlier than being returned to the wild.
Throughout my keep, I witnessed an extremely highly effective second when a wild cheetah was launched after recovering from an damage. Her progress will proceed to be monitored by CCF via a GPS collar. By the use of distinction, the everlasting residents embrace cheetahs who had been rescued as cubs and by no means had the possibility to be taught to hunt and survive within the wild, and cheetahs who had been illegally saved as pets.
My duties the next day took me to the Canine Group – feeding and caring for the Anatolian livestock guardian canines, bred and educated at CCF earlier than taking over their jobs on farms to guard goats and sheep from predators. This can be a nice instance of how CCF tackles conservation in the actual world, working with the group to scale back battle between farmers and predators by offering sensible options and instruments. I used to be delighted to fulfill 9 new Anatolian puppies throughout my keep, and their proud mum, Misty-Lee!
A mannequin farm has been developed at CCF, that includes dairy goats, Boer goats (used for meat manufacturing), and fat-tailed Damara sheep. The farm is used for coaching the livestock guardian canines, showcasing their worth to the farming group. It is usually the supply of goat’s milk, utilized by CCF’s Dancing Goat Creamery to make a number of forms of cheese, ice cream, fudge and cleaning soap. I immensely loved my flip working within the creamery! On my break day, I made a bee line for the café the place I had an Amarula ice cream milk shake.
I additionally labored within the Chewbaaka Memorial Backyard, named after the very first orphaned cheetah cub rescued by Dr Laurie Marker, the founding father of CCF. I had been lucky to fulfill Chewbaaka on my go to fifteen years earlier and I used to be privileged this time to pay my respects at his graveside. Chewbaaka lived to the age of sixteen, nearly double the lifespan of a wild cheetah.
I used to be fascinated to work with the Ecology Group’s two scat identification canines – Belgian Malinois sisters, Enya and Gamena. Their self-discipline and talent to tell apart cheetah scat from different predators was fantastic to see.
Along with the working friends, there have been many interns – undergraduates and postgraduates from world wide – who have been gaining precious hands-on expertise and gathering knowledge for his or her analysis tasks. Working with the vets, zoologists and conservationists of the longer term was an extremely inspiring side of my keep. I used to be notably impressed that CCF had created a framework to allow many Namibian interns to take part alongside their worldwide friends.
Working friends and interns get the chance to do and see issues that they couldn’t in the event that they merely visited Namibia as a vacationer. For instance, one of many excessive factors of my keep was sitting in a cover for twelve hours, doing a species depend at a waterhole. Whereas not all the time comfy, it was fascinating and never the type of factor I might have executed as a vacationer on safari!
To sum up my expertise as a working visitor, I might say I discovered new abilities, noticed some completely superb wildlife, met inspiring individuals, labored laborious, and ate quite a lot of good meals! I’d extremely suggest the expertise to individuals from all backgrounds.