Jo'Blog: Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre

Today I visited the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre in Brits, near Hartbeespoort (a town that I've passed many times before on the way to things like the monkey sanctuary). This morning, as the road turned revealing the cute little town of Hartbeespoort behind a mountain, it also revealed a beautiful hot air balloon with four people parachuting around it. I'm not sure if it was a special day or if I had just never come at the right time to see that kind of thing before. Anyway, it was stunning.

I arrived at the cheetah centre and started walking towards reception. I got a little nervous because I saw many cheetahs (in enclosures) around me and I didn't know if I was supposed to be there alone. It was ok though, and that was the way to reception. We started off the morning watching a cheetah run. It was pretty awesome. Basically, they chase a lure for about 100m or so and then turn around and chase it back. They were quite tame and followed their handlers in and out of the truck easily (with horse meat as a reinforcer).

After the run and walking by some of the cheetah enclosures, we watched a quick video about the history of the centre. It was pretty interesting but may have gone on a little too long. It wasn't something I was expecting I guess. After that, we were offered the option of petting a cheetah for an extra R45. Now, since this is only about $5, doesn't seem like a huge deal, and you get to pet a cheetah! I just thought it was kind of rude to not mention it on the website, when you book, or when you pay. Kind of weird. They could also just include it in the price, especially since they already charge an extra R110 for the cheetah run. Anyway, I pet the cheetah. The back and stomach were quite soft but the tail was kind of rough. I guess that is what happens if it's dragging on the ground all day.

Petting the cheetah

Then we went to see some honey badgers and meerkats before getting on our safari vehicle to see some more cheetahs, a wild cat, caracals, vultures, brown hyena, and wild dogs. The vultures were huge! I've never seen one that close before I guess. Well probably the only time I saw some were in Kruger and they were quite far away. The wild dogs were also very cool. They were very excitable and we got to see them all being fed, including 10 puppies. When we went to see the cheetahs in their enclosure, they started getting a bit restless when the handler wasn't feeding them and meowed a bit. They meow so high pitched and softly! They sound like little cats. Overall it was an excellent visit and I learned a lot about cheetahs and wild dogs.