We walk for quite a while in the morning sunshine. A few things struck me about this beautiful place:
1. The thorns. Although the thornveld around us is very attractive, it is totally not conducive to walking around in slops. Even just venturing out of the house to the car results in huge thorns getting embedded in the rubber.
2. The bugs. As soon as we leave the house, the flies have a way of buzzing around our heads incessantly, presumably looking for moisture. Back at the house, I have never seen so many varieties of grasshoppers and mantises, or heard so many mozzies... And on the walk, I have never seen so many big grey crickets, quite cute, hanging onto the grasses brandishing their spiky armour. Ants carve 'highways' in the sand, shifting sand grains to make a clear path for transporting collected food.
After a half an hour of hiking it starts to get too warm and we head back to the house. Close to reception, we find a very large enclosure, and a friendly hornless oryx comes bounding towards us, almost like a dog greeting its owner! He lets us touch him, and seems fascinated with the smell of Peter. We guess he is hoping for a treat but we don't have anything. What's left of his one horn is weirdly bent. The manager lady later tells us they removed his horns for the safety of the guests, but they keep growing back, quite skew.
Back at the house, we make preparations to go on a circular drive around the area. We pack some lunch and drive to the Solitaire service station. As we pull up several cute desert squirrels surround the car expecting food. Solitaire has a kind of "Wild West" feel to it, evident in the cacti, old vehicles and wheels decorating the area. A sign welcomes us to Solitaire, population 92... We wander into the desert bakery and marvel at the selection of pies, bread and pastries. The place was founded by 'Moose' Mcgregor, who sadly passed away earlier this year, but his legacy lives on in this amazing place. Dave buys the famous apple pie as a treat for all of us, unfortunately the bakery does not supply cream, Moose's standard response was always 'it's the cows day of rest'. We also buy some charcoal in the general dealer, it is so hot here they even keep the deodorant in the fridge!
We head south for 13kms and the take a left towards the Remhoogte pass. The scenery, as always, is spectacular as we wind wind our way through the mountains. We spot a leggewaan standing on the side of the road, and as we near, he runs up a tree instead of into the bush. Who knew they could climb trees... He is a monster of a lizard, probably 1.5m long. We also spot a baboon sitting on a pole, watching out for danger.
The next thing we come across really takes us by surprise... We pull into another tiny dusty town called Guisis, little more than an unmanned gas station, and then cross a dry river bed to discover a beautiful dam, shimmering in the sunlight and covered with water birds. We find a gate that we are allowed to enter and park, very close to three beautiful horses grazing. We admire the dam, with lots of pelicans, ducks, egrets and other water fowl. What a find. But there is nowhere to sit, so we push on in search of a picnic spot.
Soon we reach the beginning of the precipitous Spreetshoogte pass, no caravans or trailers allowed, and rumored to have corners so steep "you can see your own breaklights"... Here we find our picnic spot, and the view over the mountains and the pass is awesome. We enjoy drinkies, crackers, tuna, ham, and of course the amazing still warm apple pie, with ideal milk as a cream substitute :)
We head down the pass, it is paved for safety, but it's not really that dangerous, just scenic. The day is really hot, so we head back to the house. Immediately we go for a refreshing swim. There are some friendly people at the pool, as well as our favourite sheep dog. He is so cute, if you splash water at him he tries to catch it in his mouth.
We get ready for our cheetah experience and head down to reception just before 4:00. We are surprised that almost the whole camp has turned out for the evening drive. Our cheetah guide, Carla, a petite Afrikaans woman, shows up in a huge truck, plenty of space for all. We sign indemnities and hop on, and she drives us a short distance on the farm, through a gate, and into the 5000 hectare enclosure. She hops off the vehicle and explains that her cheetah rescue organization cares for orphaned big cats, mostly cheetahs, with a goal to release them back into the wild. Some cats are not able to be fully released into the wild, usually because they have become too accustomed to humans, and will approach humans to be fed, which is a hazard to them. Those cats remain here, in a place where they are safe and cared for, and where they can live like wild cheetahs.
Carla also explains that there are currently 6 cheetahs in residence, 3 males and 3 females and each cheetah is equipped with a radio collar, so they are able to monitor and track them. She shows us the rather archaic looking tracking device which is currently not beeping.
Then we head off in search of cheetahs, Carla occasionally stopping the vehicle to listen for beeps. At one point she stops and tells us she has picked up Pepper, a rather shy and grumpy female cheetah. We drive for a while trying to find her, but she slips away as it seems she often does. But no worries, we have now picked up two males: Teddy and Ayla. We drive for a while but we can't see anything. Carla is amazing, she somehow spots them hiding under a tree. She goes right up to the cats, greeting them in a baby voice in Afrikaans.
She allows us to very carefully exit the vehicle, so that we can get closer to see them. Dave gets in trouble for jumping out the wrong side of the truck, even though he was just trying to be helpful! Carla leads us around to where we can see the cats, always staying between us and them... We have strict instructions, no funny noises, no sudden movements and kids to stay between two adults. We get about a meter from the two lazy males. It is awesome to be so close to a totally wild animal. Carla explains that Cheetahs are the smaller of the big cats, and so they tend to be a bit more nervous and defensive, this makes them easier to work with. She says what we are doing now would not be possible with lions or leopards.
Ayla gets up, stretches and starts to walk towards the vehicle. Carla shouts at him, apparently he has recently picked up the habit of marking his territory on her car. He does it again, much to her disgust! Next, Teddy gets up as well, and slowly walks away while we snap away. We get back into the truck and follow them along the road for a while, until they slip back into the bush.
Then it is time for sundowners, and Carla picks a nice spot for us to enjoy beers, wine and coke. She answers all of Gitti's questions and tells us more about the research they have been able to do. Apparently male cheetahs are almost always found in pairs, while the females tend to be solitary. They have also learnt that cheetahs do not have a strict territory like other animals, theirs tends to be a lot larger and more flexible.
We watch another amazing Namibian sunset, and then head back to the guest farm. Tonight we are braaing the meat we bought in Aus, and we have marinaded them nicely. There are chops, wors and rump steaks, all braaied to perfection by Werner and Peter, served with salads, fried potatoes and pea salad. Followed by chocolates for dessert.
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Location:Solitaire, Namibia
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