End of service conference (10-31)

Our WorldTeach end-of-service conference was this weekend. It was held at the Cheetah Conservation Fund outside Otjiwarongo. Fortunately, it was only a five hour drive rather than going all the way to Windhoek. The local Ministry of Education provided transportation. As of Wednesday, they expected me to meet them in Oshakati because they don’t like to have their cars drive on the gravel road. Damaris sorted out that, according to the contract with WorldTeach, they are to pick us up at school and drop us off there as well. Friday morning I was ready to be picked up at 7:30. Instead, I got a text from Abby saying that they had picked her up first and were on the way to my school. After picking me up, the driver took us to the office where we changed vehicles from the 4X4 to a regular car and changed drivers. Then we were on our way at 9:30. Abby had an extra long ride since we went past the road to her site; she could have been picked up then. We never did figure out just why things happened the way they did.

After arriving at the site, we checked into our cabins, which are a ten minute walk from the main buildings. We each had our own, which was nice. This was the first time we met with Damaris, Rachel’s replacement. She did a good job, especially considering that she didn’t know us. Most of the discussion was about our thoughts and feelings about Namibia and our experience here and about our thoughts and feelings about returning to the U.S.

The Cheetah Conservation Fund (We wondered why it is a “fund” and not a “foundation.”) is home to 42 cheetahs, three of which had just arrived. These were in boxes and were released to a penned area on Sunday. Most of the resident cheetahs are there because they were injured or shot and a farmer called the center to come and get the cheetah. 26 of the cheetahs are permanent residents. The others live in a separate area that we did not see because they have potential to be returned to the wild. They are taken care of and treated until they are deemed ready for that transition again. Then the center finds a place to release them, which is challenging because not everyone wants a cheetah in the neighborhood and the animals are territorial; so they must be careful about where they introduce a new one. The cheetahs are fed donkey and horse meat so that they don’t get used to beef and want to kill cattle when they are released.

We watched the cheetahs in their pens several times. They were often quite close to the fence. We were all surprised at how loudly they purr.

Part of taking care of the permanent residents is having them run three times a week. We were privileged to watch this. It is done with two cheetahs at a time. They are quite used to their trainers, and the latter walk freely in their pens. One of the women said she was there for three months with other trainers before she was allowed to go in on her own. 

We visitors, however, were told to keep close together like a herd so that we would not look like individuals that could be perceived as prey. We were taken to a fenced aisle to watch the run. A motorized, flexible wire is run around the area. 

Attached to it is a cloth bundle that is the “prey.” So the cheetahs don’t just sit and wait for it to come around, the direction and speed of the moving wire are frequently changed. This keeps the cheetahs alert and interested in the chase. 

When a cheetah catches the “prey,” it is rewarded with meat. 

Each cheetah runs several times. The first two we watched were 11 years old; the next two were 4 years old. It was pretty exciting to see them run. I realized that, although I’ve seen wild cheetahs, I hadn’t seen them walking, as the ones I’d see were sitting in the grass or under a tree.

The center has four cheetahs that are The Ambassadors. These were brought to the center when they were three weeks old and were hand fed. They are now two years old. They have been raised to accept people other than their trainers if the trainers are with them. We were privileged to go into their pen and touch them, following instructions of the trainers. They like to have their head scratched, just as housecats do. It was an awesome experience. We could take photos but were instructed not to post any on social media. 

Sunday morning we helped with chores. We raked the cheetah pens, as they like the sand to be neat. I washed the bowls they eat from in the pens. Abby and Hollyanne cut meat that they would be given later.

The center does much more than take care of cheetahs. They breed and train Anatolian Shepherds as guard dogs to protect herds from predators. These are provided at a small cost to farmers who request them, and the center continues to support and evaluate the farmers and the dogs, reclaiming any that are not taken care of properly. One of our activities was walking the dogs. I skipped the walk on Saturday because I wanted to rest and needed some alone time, but I did walk a dog on Sunday.

They also breed and raise goats for meat as well as milk and are trying to get more local farmers to raise milk goats. I liked the floppy-eared ones. The kids are given milk four times a day in special feeders. 

Chris got to walk the milk feeder with six kids drinking as he walked them to another pen. This is done so that all the kids get an equal amount of milk.

There is also a game reserve. Saturday evening we had a game drive during which we saw kudus, hartebeests, gemsboks, ostriches, giraffes, warthogs, a jackal, springboks, and

steenboks. I’d never seen so many steenbok in one place. They are a main food for the predators, but they are thriving. 

The herd of gemsboks included young ones, which I hadn’t seen before; so that was awesome. The reserve also has leopards and black rhinos, but we saw only tracks of a rhino.

The center has produced a curriculum based on predators for upper primary and lower secondary classes. The woman who was in charge of us spent a lot of time talking about this. Her agenda is to have WorldTeach partner with the center and use the curriculum in classes. We were each given a copy to take to our schools.

After lunch on Sunday, we started the trip home. Abby was dropped off at her home. Then the driver gave me the fastest ever ride down my gravel road in the Ministry’s sedan. I’d been told that we would go to the Ministry office and change vehicles before taking me home. So this was quite a surprise. It was good to get home before complete dark.

All in all the weekend was a big success. Meetings were few and discussion was good. It was good to see all that the center does. It was good to see the other volunteers one last time. And the cheetahs were fantastic. They made the weekend really special.