A reason why you should visit Namibia...after Covid

'Nuff said...

Jackie

Stop the abuse of cheetahs!

Cheetahs are beautiful and magnificent.  But, this is what is getting them killed by people who are murderously ignorant and selfish.  Check out https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/28/africa/somaliland-cheetahs-gulf-intl/index.html - people are again treating animals as props and toys and not living, breathing animals that are deserving of admiration from a distance and respect for nature at its best.

People are killing cheetahs out of vanity and of course, the animal smugglers are more than happy to provide the cubs for a price.   

Google Namibia's Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF).  I serve on their board of directors in Namibia and I urge anyone reading this to find a way to support their work, financially or by educating yourselves and your circle of family and friends or by advocating for tighters laws against people having cheetahs as 'pets'. 

For those planning a visit to Namibia, make sure you go to the CCF headquarters outside of Otjiwarongo (about 2.5 hr drive from Windhoek).  They have high-level tourist accommodation at their vast education and training facility.  Cheetah research, medical care, rehoming projects, and other wildlife programs are underway.  Visit there to support the work of CCF.  They have a great dairy and products from herds of special sheep and goats.  They sell bush blocks made from compressed brush and invasive flora cleared from the land sustainably.  This is to be used instead of chopping down trees for cooking or campfires at night.  This is a part of their income-generating effort that helps finance their very important work. 

CCF trains the world-famous Anatolian sheepdogs and gives them to farmers to try to stop the landowners from shooting cheetahs that may threaten their herds.  The sheepdogs are a deterrent to the cheetah predation.  This is a must-see stop on a tour of Namibia.  Check out CCF online and make a plan!

Let's strangle the market for these glorious animals (and others that are illegally smuggled) and then the poachers and animal stealers won't make any money, so they will stop.

Quick nice panorama video of Namibia - enjoy!


https://www.facebook.com/NamibianPhotography/videos/1784693591784730/

Humpback beaches itself on Namibian coast

It is so sad to see great animals of the sea in distress and mortal danger.  On Wednesday, a magnificent humpback whale beached itself on Namibia's coast near its main port of Walvis Bay.   After officials and concerned people rushed to its aid, it was found that the whale has a severely damaged fin which is preventing it from swimming in a straight line.

It was unbeached several times, but could not go out to sea and only ended up swimming in circles and re-beaching itself.

Sadly, it was reported today that the animal will be humanely euthanized as its wound makes its survival impossible.  It would otherwise face a long term, agonizing, frightening death over days as it remains stuck in the shallow beach waters slowly starving to death or allowing an infection from the wound to fester.

Sad indeed.  But, many whales swim off the Namibian coast where the food supply is plentiful.  Occasionally, these mighty leviathans run into trouble and the humane response after all else fails must be the answer.

Visit Namibia and enjoy the wonderful coastal wildlife...nature rules, for better or worse.

Should we intervene to save animals or not

For conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts and tourists there is a quandary.  Do we, as human beings intervene in natural situations to save animals under pressure?  Should we let nature take its course?

This question comes to mind when I published a magazine article in our Observer Connect Magazine February March edition (not online yet, sorry) about the debate on whether to assist Namibia's fantastic desert horses as they face massive and debilitating predation from local hyenas that are slowly, but certainly killing them off.  No new babies have survived the predation in six years and their numbers are down by 100 animals over the previous years.  Check out my friends at the excellent Gondwana chain of resorts that is heavily involved and informed about this issue on https://www.gondwana-collection.com/news/article/2018/11/19/the-wild-horses-of-the-namib,

These two photos come from Teagan Cunniffe.

The pressure is on the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism to intervene to save the wild horses.  This means removing the hyenas to other areas where they can find other prey.  Given the extreme drought that Namibia is suffering right now, the horses are already under duress from water and grazing shortages.

Some who support predators doing their thing object to this kind of intervention claiming it is a natural state of things, the circle of life if you will.  There is truth there.

This week, the Ministry decided to intervene to save about 70 Hippos stuck in newly dried 'water holes' that have become mud death traps in the drought.  The Ministry dug a borehole to allow water to seep in and free the animals and give them a lifeline until the next rainy season.  Without that intervention, these fabulous animals would have certainly died.

And yet, drought is a natural occurrence (although with man-made global warming, one wonders about this), and many animals die as a result.  Isn't that a natural cycle.  Hippos are not rare or under threat of extinction in any way.  The loss of those 70 animals would not have caused a species extinction or even a noticeable threat of one.  Check out https://neweralive.na/posts/met-throws-lifeline-to-nearly-70-hippos.  But still...

 


Come visit Namibia.  Support our community based natural resource management program.  Stay in lodges and campsites in communal conservancies or in the Gondwana Desert Collection that is committed to working with communities and supporting wildlife development.

Beautiful, natural CHEETAHS need support

I recently visited the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) headquarters in Otjiwarongo in Namibia.  If you plan to visit southern Africa, you MUST visit CCF.  They have great (3-4 star) accommodation for you to plan an overnight stay to learn about conservation efforts for this graceful, gorgeous animal.

Go to cheetah.org/news-blog/videos and visit their 'contact us' page to get more details.  Watch those amazing (and short) videos about these magnificent, yet endangered animals.

I had no idea that rich people in the Middle East are keeping cheetahs as pets, fueling the international illicit trade and mistreatment of these fantastic and increasingly under-threat animals.  having a cheetah on a leash is some sort of status symbol, like a fancy car or top of the line cellphone.  This is horrible for the cheetahs who need large ranges to run free and it must be discouraged.

Of course, human/wildlife conflict issues abound locally in the natural habitat of the cheetah as farmers, quite normally, are protective of their livestock and do not like any wild predator.  Each animal lost is a net cash set back for a farmer.  We must work HARD and consistently to find solutions that work for the farmers and the cheetah.  CCF is doing something about educating farmers and offering alternatives to protect livestock.  Go to their website and learn what they are doing.

Read more about this amazing organization and find a way to support their work. VISIT NAMIBIA and do your part to support conservation and wildlife, by visiting CCF, contributing to their work in any way that you can (even if you cannot come in person), AND repeating their message of care and concern for the wild cheetah population left in the world!  Only 7,500 of these animals exist on that planet (more than 50% are in southern Africa) and that number is under threat.

DO something about it, get involved in any way that you can.

Here are some of my amateurish photos taken during my visit.  These are shots of beautiful cheetahs who must now live at CCF as they were rescued from terrible situations when they were very young.  In some cases, their mothers were killed and they were hand-raised at the CCF.  Others were rescued from horrific 'pet' situations.  They receive proper medical care, food, love, and fitness training every single day.  They are ambassadors for their species to help educate the streams of young people and tourists that flock to CCF for Cheetah and animal conservation lessons!

Sadly, the cheetahs living at the Center can never live in the wild.  But, CCF has many cheetahs who were wounded, captured on farmlands or rescued in some way and are able to be rehomed back in the wild and that is a good thing!

CCF's videos and photos are much better.  I am more of a writer than a photographer as you can tell!

If you go there, please tell them JACKIE sent you!

Cheetahs are FANTASTIC, but need your help

Dear readers,

I was the MC again this year at the 2018 Gala Fundraising Dinner for the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia.  This dinner is to raise funds for the conservation and protection of the magnificant cheetahs, but also to continue this organization's educational campaigns and programs to work with the farmers whose livestock is under threat from these beautiful, elegant, but wild animals.  We must find a way to live together on the land and CCF is in the forefront of tackling this problem.  Go to their website, www.cheetah.org and check then out.  If you can donate to their GREAT work, do so.

My good friend Dr. Laurie Marker is the Executive Director of CCF and her whole team does excellent work.

Your contribution will save Cheetah's lives and most importantly, pay for vets to provide medical care for these animals, do research and studies about them, work to educate the public, the farmers, the government and civil society as a whole about the needs of the cheetahs and better ways to handle human/wildlife conflict that often leaves the wildlife with the short end of the stick.




Come visit Namibia and while here, stop by the CCF headquarters just outside of Otjiworongo.  You'll love it.  Go to their website and make a donation to their efforts TODAY! 

I thank you and Namibia's Cheetahs thank you too!