I had to save the best for last – the cheetahs. The main reason I chose PAWS was because I would have to chance to work with these unbelievable cats. Cheetahs are sort of the underdogs of the safari. Though they are stunning animals and the fastest land animal (they can go up to 75mph), they aren’t exactly equipped to last (they lose all the time to leopards and other predators) but are also being hunted to extinction because of their predilection for farm-raised animals.
They are such inquisitive cats and will come pretty close to investigate. They are also really vocal, whistling, huffing and even purring! A cheetah purring is so loud it kind of sounds like an incoming helicopter.
They get a full workup during the exam, including teeth and eye checks, blood work, vaccinations and even sperm count.
Their fur wasn’t as soft as it looks and they actually don’t do a great job grooming themselves so we had to comb all the burrs out and delouse with flea powder.
I got to hold hands with a cheetah!
We even got to feed them though they would hiss and paw the fence when we got too close.
Team Africat! I again got so lucky with the other volunteers. They were all Brits but we had so much fun together and it was nice to have such a varied group. Thanks, guys!!
Another great thing about volunteering with PAWS is their affiliation with Africats. Africats is dedicated to saving, rehabbing and releasing cheetahs, leopards and other big cats in the wild. Part of our work was tracking, feeding and cleaning enclosures for these cats so we got to see them as not many people do since they are so elusive in the wild.
Clive, the leopard whisperer. For research, many of the cats are radio collared so we spent a lot of our afternoons tracking them and monitoring where they go.
MJ, a female leopard, taking it slow.
Mufana on the hunt. Leopards really are the king of the jungle and the most ferocious and intelligent hunters. They are just built to take down anything.
Wahoo used to be a former pet and now can’t be released back into the wild due to his affinity for humans. But we got to watch him play and eat, which was so amazing.
Sadly, wild dogs are coming very close to extinction because they hunt so much cattle. These guys are just about to be released and will be hunting on their own.
That’s Pooh, a spotted hyena, lounging after a kudu kill. We didn’t get a good look at him but hyenas are amazing creatures. Not at all scavengers, they hunt and are just as ferocious as leopards and bigger too. On one tracking trip, we were caught between a hyena trying to steal a kill from a leopard! It was a little scary.
For this holiday I didn’t want to just vacation like a tourist but also wanted to do some good for the world. I found this really great organization called PAWS (People And Wildlife Solutions) in Namibia that is working to reverse the damage that cattle farming has done and restore the land for cheetahs, leopards and other animals to roam freely. Sadly, cattle farming has destroyed the soil, left behind dangerous wire fences and rusty traps, and introduced endemic plants like thorny sickly bush that have pushed animals out and overtaken everything.Clive and Roma have created a fantastic program that not only has us busting our butts but incorporates phenomenal access on game drives and detailed information on the land, animals and the nomadic San people that used to roam, all in the most beautiful setting surrounded by bush and a great camp (best showers EVER). Every morning we worked, fence rolling, bush cutting or maintaining roads/camp. It was actually pretty grueling – think huge thorns on everything, unruly rusty wire fences and unrelenting African sun – but it felt so good to be doing manual work.
See how big those trees are? Now add the sharpest, stickiest thorns that covered everything and you get the idea. But it was so satisfying when they fell.
Peter and Felix work for PAWS and they’re so hard working and patient with our ineptitude but also fun to be around. Peter loves Akon and is definitely the party type while Felix is much more introspective and always asking philosophical questions. Really great guys!
See that pool? Its like an oasis or mirage hanging out in the middle of Namibia. I was there everyday to escape the heat and it was just perfect, maybe a tad too cold but very refreshing!
I could get used to this…
How weird does this bird look? It’s a yellow-billed hornbill but looks almost prehistoric.
Oryx are everywhere! They would just stand and stare at you with those huge horns.
I LOVE giraffes. They are hysterical with their heads sticking out of the trees. They’re even better when they run, it’s a wonder they don’t fall over.
We were incredibly lucky to see this guy! Aardvarks eat ants and termites and look kind of fleshy.
We had porcupines pretty much every night to eat our food scraps. They look like ballerinas with all those quills, right?
Wildebeests are ugly. Sorry, but they really are.
Another favorite! These are dik-diks and they are just as cute as their name implies. They are the smallest antelope at about 12lbs but don’t tell them. Dik-diks are quite proud and will stamp their teeny feet when they stand their ground.
I can’t imagine that’s comfortable.
I flew directly from Zambia back to South Africa so I could spend 5 days in Cape Town and the nearby winelands. After a week of roughing it, staying at An African Villa was a complete relief. The villa was so charming with really hospitable owners and best of all, the best hot showers and full English breakfasts (!!).
Cape Town is a really fantastic city. The complete opposite of Jo’Burg, it reminded me a lot of San Francisco with its laid back feel. Best of all, a friend of mine from NY also happened to be there on vacation so we met up. The world really is so small that I can catch up with friends on the opposite end of the world.
The 4 Nobel Peace Prize winners from South Africa with Table Mountain in the background and an old apartheid sign. I went to all the requisite tour sites (Table Mountain, District 6 Museum, V&A Waterfront, etc) but really just took it easy and soaked it all in.
The best part of Cape Town by far was the drive down to Cape Point on my way to the winelands. The drive was also great because you get a better sense of the land and people. Being in cities and on tours, you can easily forget the problems South Africa faces with racism and poverty. As I left Cape Town I passed endless townships with destitute tin shacks and appalling crime/unemployment/poverty rates.
The coastal views were even better than Hwy 1 at home with turquoise water, white sand beaches and amazing coastal cliff views. 
Welcome to the end of the world.
Got this recommendation from a friend and it was amazing. The best seafood pasta I’ve ever had!
Me and my ride! The thing was easily the smallest car I have ever been in. Also, they drive on the wrong side of the road, which took some serious getting used to.
I ended my time in South Africa with a couple of nights in Franschhoek. Its the culinary capital of the winelands so you can imagine the incredible food I had. Every time I thought it couldn’t get any better, the next meal would just blow me away. And of course, the wine! Being the responsible lush that I am, I decided to join a tour to go wine-tasting and it was so fun to learn about the wines from our guide while getting totally sloshed. Loved it!
It’s a beautiful little town in the valley surrounded by these incredible mountains. And then include rolling fields of vines and you have Franschhoek.
Yum, wine. South Africa is really known for its sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc and pinotage.
Our safari ended at Victoria Falls in Zambia, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. And a wonder it definitely is. It was also "discovered" by David Livingstone, the great British explorer. We were there during the end of the rainy season so the falls were an incredible force of nature with the water barely containing itself. Livingstone (the town) was also a great place to end our tour with a relaxing campsite complete with a nice restaurant, full bar and a booze cruise to celebrate the end.
What a site! But what was even more incredible is that from the Zambian side we were really only seeing a fraction of the falls.
Because of the heavy water mist we could barely see anything at all. But it was fun to run along all the trails, soaking wet, and catch the incredible glimpses when we could. And the rainbows! 
At the top of the falls there are no gates or fences and people actually swim up there. It’s a little scary to think of what could happen, definitely not like at home.
They say the best way to see the falls is from the air and I decided to go on what is basically a motorized hang glider. It looks a little precarious but such amazing views! You can see on my face how thrilling it was.
Our great guides, Jimmy and Geoff!
Thanks for a great week, guys! I really could not have asked for a better group. Mostly Aussies and Americans with a couple of Irish thrown in, we had a fantastic time. I’ll never forget putting up/taking down camp, long talks on the endless road, awful sandwich lunches and so many laughs around the campfire fueled by all those cans of terrible beer.
They are such inquisitive cats and will come pretty close to investigate. They are also really vocal, whistling, huffing and even purring! A cheetah purring is so loud it kind of sounds like an incoming helicopter.
They get a full workup during the exam, including teeth and eye checks, blood work, vaccinations and even sperm count.
Their fur wasn’t as soft as it looks and they actually don’t do a great job grooming themselves so we had to comb all the burrs out and delouse with flea powder.
I got to hold hands with a cheetah!
We even got to feed them though they would hiss and paw the fence when we got too close.
Team Africat! I again got so lucky with the other volunteers. They were all Brits but we had so much fun together and it was nice to have such a varied group. Thanks, guys!!
