Cheetah Farm and Swakapmond

After the Delta we headed to the Cheetah Farm. It is a real working farm with sheep and cows run by a father and his sons, they have donated part of their land so that they can look after injured cheetahs. So we arrived in the late afternoon and got taken to the homestead where we were able to pat the three cheetahs that were there - the youngest was six months. It was really neat to be able to stroke them, they have coarse hair like a dog but they purr like a cat, albeit a BIG cat. They are placid, lazy animals but have brilliant patterns over them.

We then went to set up camp being mindful of the scorpions and puff adders! Then we got loaded onto trucks and got to go feed the other cheetahs on the property. One of the son's threw big chunks of meat out to them and they would take them away to eat - very neat. We then also got shown the younger cheetahs as well who were very cute.

After dinner a few of us went to the bar. It was plenty of fun. One of the games was trying to crawl through a bar stool without touching the ground and another was picking up a bar stool with only one hand. It was very entertaining to watch the boys from the truck trying to do it. After a few games of pool we hit the tents as we had an early start to get to Swaka.

On the way to Swaka we pass through desert, endless, sand for as far as you can see. Luckily the temperature had dropped otherwise the ride would be rather unpleasant. We also got to stop at a seal colony by the Atlantic. They were pretty neat to watch but not very nice smelling.

Swaka is an unsual town very much influenced by the German settlers - it's a few quiet town, and many of the Aussies say's it reminds them of an outback town. So we've all being just wandering around eating, shopping and using internet. Sadly I think we're arriving back in the Western world - for me East Africa is where I'd rather be.

Yesterday a group of us did the town tour. We stopped at one village and had heaps of children running up to greet us and wanting to be swung around and have photos taken of them. They were all very happy and we had plenty of smiles and giggles. We then went to the home of one of the woman cheifs she was a beautiful lady in her 8o's, and some of her great grand children were there too. She said the most difficult thing about her life was when there was apartheid and how her son was taken away to jail. We also visited a medicine lady and the shanty town. At the end we went and had some drink in a local bar and then had a local meal. Starting with a sour kind of drink made from a maize plant, then going onto porridge with a spinach dish, bean dish or caterpillars. All very nice, the caterpillars tasted very much like shrimp and had the same texture. For dessert we had three kinds of dried fruit, one tasted a bit like tea, on had the texture of dung and the last was mostly seed! A great experience though and very well run. Oh and I also learnt some of the "click" language which was fun.

There's one week to go before we finish the tour and the thought of having to go back to reality is not that appealing! Hope all is well.