February 18, 2017

I covered a lot of ground in the past couple of days. Overnighted in Oudtshoorn, the ostrich capital of the world and by far the cleanest city I’ve visited so far. I was especially happy to be able to spend time with the The Cheetah Preservation Foundation which is based at the Cango Wildlife Park. (Visit the link for more info and how to volunteer)

I wanted to make sure their breeding and volunteer programs were legit as opposed to the many canned lion breeding facilities which are horrific.

Blood Lions is just now being released in SA and is sure to cause some major waves in the hunting industry – and rightfully so. I came away very impressed with the work the foundation is doing to increase cheetah populations while protecting their genetic diversity. I definitely feel that they’re a worthy cause to support.

Enter a captionDuggie was a great guide – knowledgeable and passionate

They have a full time staff of over a hundred locals and the whole place is immaculate. Their guides, like Duggie pictured to the right,  are well versed on conservation issues and management are happy to discuss their various programs at length.

From its origins as a crocodile farm under previous owners, the facility has evolved into a world class organization and I hope they will continue to evolve and grow.