The Cohen Family Adventure Summer 2011: Last Glorious Days in Zebula

We visited with Pete & Andree in Zebula for 3 nights and 4 days but because we instantly felt at home, our stay there felt much longer. We slept so soundly and would awake to the sounds of birds and wild game.

On Saturday, August 6th, we visited the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre, a research and breeding reserve for cheetahs, wild dogs and other endangered species. It was very interesting! The centre was founded 30 years ago by conservationist Ann van Dyk (now in her 80's). The population of the cheetahs in southern Africa was then estimated to be ahout 700 animals, and until then nobody had succeeded in breeding them in captivity.

"After intensive research with the co-operation of several well-known zoologists and zoo directors and after a number of stillbirths, in March 1975 a break-through could be celebrated: Five cheetah cubs were born on De Wildt and then raised successfully. In 1981 the first birth of a healthy king cheetah could be announced. Dark stripes on its back distinguish it from its normal fellows. So far the king cheetah had be thought to be a species of its own. But the birth on De Wildt proved that the stripes are just an abnormal feature."

We drove around De Wildt in an extra big Land Rover and watched our guide & ranger, Albert, leave his driver's seat and walk among these wild animals to feed them. The eeriest creatures were the wild dogs who, we were told, can take down an adult impala in less than 1 minute and devour it (bones and all) in less than 2 minutes. Wild dogs hunt by circling their prey and barking at one another to disorient their victim. When we drove into the wild dog enclosure, they displayed this hunting ability using our vehicle as their focal point. On this encounter, our vehicle had full side panels and we were instructed to keep small children on the inside of the seats. Yikes!!

A highlight were two female cheetahs who were born at DeWildt. Although they were sisters, one was born a "king cheetah", a variant which is the result of a recessive gene carried by both parents. This variation is seen in the darker coat markings which have stripes down the back of the cheetah and spots which run into longish blotches. We watched Albert feed these two sisters. As he prepared to put their food in front of them, the cheetahs would alternate between hissing and acting ferocious and then meowing like little house cats. Very funny but also quite disconcerting. These photos are all from De Wildt...