Don't miss the Cheetah Man from Namibia

Don't miss the Cheetah Man from Namibia!

Tonight a documentary filmed in Namibia offers the opportunity to learn about the work of ‘catman’ Olivier Houalet.  Houalet is a conservationist who has been actively involved with cheetahs for 10 years.  For the last 4 years the Frenchman has spent every day with 5 orphaned cheetah cubs and has adopted the animals’ body language to such an extent that he is now accepted as one of them.  The programme aired tonight follows Olivier, as he works on a groundbreaking experiment to return the cubs to the wild.

Namibia has the largest population of cheetah in the world.  If you would like to search for these amazing creatures, alongside other fantastic wildlife take a look at our Namibia tours:

Conservation and Cats:  This tour offers the unique opportunity to volunteer alongside the Africat Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Namibia to conserve carnivores, especially focusing on cheetah and leopard.  Volunteers will spend a week restoring land to its natural state to provide a better habitat for local wildlife.  The Africat Foundation is home to a variety of rescued wildlife, including leopard, lion and cheetah and there is the opportunity to get up close to these animals.

A normal working day will start as the sun rises over the horizon, coffee and breakfast made and then off to the work site.  Tasks may include dismantling windmills, fence-lines, old water troughs, bush clearing tasks, repairing waterholes, dam and bridge maintenance etc.  There may also be the fantastic opportunity of working directly at the AfriCat Foundation itself including : bone collecting within the cheetah camps, cleaning out the wild dogs’ water trough, erecting and repairing fences and netting, fence maintenance etc.  Work will take place with breaks until approx 12noon before stopping for a well-earned lunch and siesta time, after which we head off for our afternoon activity. This may be leopard and cheetah tracking, visiting wild dogs, a bushman walk, game drives, nature walks or a host of other activities. You may also get involved in other conservation measures such as reserve maintenance, counting game at waterholes, plant and animal studies or fence patrols.

Other tours that visit Namibia and offer the chance the observe cheetahs include our overland classic truck trips: Dunes, Delta and Falls, Victoria Falls to Cape Town and Kenya to Cape.  Or for a higher standard of accommodation in tented camps and tourist lodges the Southern Africa Encompassed also visits the Etosha National Park, where cheetahs may be spotted alongside the best of Namibia’s other wildlife and stays at a private game farm dedicated to the protection of big cats.  Our Namibian Adventure tour is a two week tour focusing solely on Namibia and in addition to Etosha National Park also visits a cheetah sanctuary where there is the chance to have a close encounter with the fastest land mammal on earth.

If you are planning a visit to East Africa rather than the southern region don’t worry! Cheetahs are also present in the Maasai Mara Reserve in Kenya and Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

Elephants without borders

This is a story of vision, struggle, hope, and one man’s dream to bring freedom to Africa’s elephants. The film is an extraordinary journey with Dr. Mike Chase, an ecologist, raised in Africa’s harsh wilderness. He talks passionately of his dream to create a scenario he calls “Elephants Without Borders” - a system of contiguous migratory corridors - that could bring freedom for a hundred thousand elephants to range across Africa, along centuries-old trails that were once a lifeline before mankind drew lines on a map.

This programme follows Mike on his adventures, following him through the struggles and barriers that both he and the elephants have to face in search of new places for elephants to live. We follow his journey as he tracks collared elephants from Botswana through Namibia and Zambia to Angola’s southern wilderness. We follow the routes of three elephants Max, Bontle and Ntombo across the region, from the great northern rivers to the Okavango Delta, Tsodilo Hills and across the hostile Magkadikgadi Salt Pans. Dramatic events unfold when these elephants encounter obstacles to their movements.

If you would like to see elephants in the wild take a look at our tours in Africa: Chobe National Park is home to the largest herds of elephants in Africa and is visited on many of our Southern Africa tours from the longer overland tours to our 13 day Delta Adventure showcasing the best of Botswana.  If the unspoilt and untouristed wilderness of Angola attracts you our new Expedition to Angola tour could be your adventure for 2009!