They drive on the left in South Africa. But you knew that from the way they spell "Centre," didn't you? I did actually drive for a tiny few of the 3,000 kilometers we covered in our time there. In general, I am not the driver. Jeff and I have different driving styles, and my personal style, shall we say, grates. So, I only drive when Jeff needs a nap or is sick; basically when his eyes are closed.
None of that is relevant to the activity I will describe forthwith, which was visiting what is essentially a wildlife sanctuary. Given that we had done a proper, drive-'til-you-drop safari in Tanzania a few months back, our objective in South Africa was not to head out into the bush to spy on wild animals.
We could have booked time in Kruger National Park, one of the largest parks in all of Africa, but, and I am not throwing shade here, one of the defining characteristics of Kruger is that it's well appointed:
Kruger is the most accessible and best equipped of Africa’s great parks and makes an ideal venue for self-drive safaris, since it is well signposted, well maintained and even boasts restaurants and gas stations.
Self-drives are awesome, and you can see a ton of wildlife, but to safari without Rajab and the Unreliable Land Cruiser? Eh, not thrilling enough. So, our plan was to check out the "educational" opportunities presented to us in the numerous Sanctuaries across South Africa.
Tenikwa specializes in medium sized cats, like leopards and cheetahs. They also take in a range of injured non-cat animals with the intention of rehabilitation and re-lease to the wild: penguins, various wounded flighted birds, turtles, etc.

The most interesting thing that they do are "Walks with Cheetahs." No kidding, you pay quite a bit and get to walk a cheetah around on a leash. They do not allow children under 16 to engage in this particular activity. Oh, I wonder why (<--please imagine this sentence is typed in Sarcasm Font).
While they do not allow children to walk the cheetahs around on leashes, they do allow all manner of people to walk into the cheetah enclosures and photograph them up close. I believe they do discourage very young children, who are like to make sudden moves and look very appetizing, even to a well fed cheetah. Sleeping cheetah.

Cheetah awoken by the clicks of a thousand cameras.

Not really a thousand, of course. The groups are limited to around a dozen people, and the rangers seem well informed, chatting quite a bit about the plight of the cheetah in South Africa (farmers don't like them for the obvious reason that they find sheep easy prey). The animals we met in cages are here because they cannot be released to the wild for various reasons (some were bred in captivity, some were injured).
There are a non-breeding pair of cheetah in this enclosure. We were taken in by a ranger, and a second ranger walked behind us, an extra pair of eyes to make sure the second cheetah did not sneak up on us. The cheetah, who goes for walks with tourists at dawn and dusk every day, did not really shift around much as we snapped away.
Leopards on the other hand, leopards really don't want you in their space.

Photography from behind the fence, please. Note the sunburn. Ouch.

It's a heartbreakingly small space for a leopard, although they do have a chance to climb. But, what's the alternative? This particular guy is not suited for life in the wild; it's not as though you can just toss a captive bred leopard out on the plains and hope for the best.

This is a young Caracal, also known as a desert lynx. Horrifyingly, people actually cross bred these cats (and the Servals, which we'll see in a minute) with domestic cats to come up with "designer bred cats," with distinctive coat markings. Is there no end to human stupidity? Some days, I think not.

The Serval; taken with a zoom lens.

The Serval Hunters, zooming ever closer.

There's one in every crowd. In this case, I believe they were a married couple. Maybe competing for the highest whisker count? The rangers were pretty clear up front, asking people to respect the cats and not try to creep too close. These people must have not understood "too close."
I confess to feeling not great about the whole "let's check out the cats in their cages!" activity, but, again, the rangers did a great job talking about conservation efforts and their job as "ambassadors" for the cats. Particularly with farmers. The farmers and the cats are never going to get along terribly well, but the rangers are trying to ensure that both can survive. The children got a lot out of it, and we certainly didn't let them get too close.
And, we finished with Meerkats! They are some of the cutest things on earth, aren't they? Wouldn't you love to have one of these little cuties as a pet?

NO, OF COURSE NOT. Meerkats are wild animals and not meant to be pets. All of the meerkats at Tenikwa are there because some moron thought they would make a nice pet. Meerkats are incredibly social creatures who are hard wired to dig. Sounds like exactly the wrong thing to introduce to your backyard, but, again, some people are obsessed by The Cute, and don't put a gram of thought into what the long term implications are for introducing a wild animal to your household.
Overall, Tenikwa was educational, although less so for Jeff and me, who are not the sort to be buying cheetah coats and adopting meerkats as pets, but certainly educational for the children. These sort of lessons are best learned early, and particularly as we will be "farmers" (on a small scale) in the US, it is important for them to hear the sorts of issues farmers face around the world: man and wildlife, in constant competition.
PS: Tenikwa did have a gift shop: no Zebra Masks.
Next: Zip Lining!
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