Cheetah Experience - 'Pepsi'

Back in June 2012, I adopted 'Pepsi' from the money that was fundraised for this amazing Non-Profit Organisation.

Pepsi is pregnant with her first babies and being looked after with considerable care!!






She is doing well during her pregnancy - look at her beautiful belly growing larger.

If anyone would like to donate further to the fantastic work that Cheetah Experience does with breeding the cheetahs, along with breeding and/or raising other endangered big cat species,

please feel free to donate directly at the following link:  http://cheetahexperience.com/donate.php

Moshi Fundraising for Sports Uniforms

It still brings a tear to my eye reminiscing over these photo's and the ecstatic joy the kids from Korongoni Special Needs class had when they received these sports uniforms from my fundraising!!

Ready, set, go.....and we're off running races. Loved it - couldn't even run the race without them wanting to hold hands.

Richard standing at the back, always went off by himself instead of playing football with the other kids. With the uniform on, he totally surprised the teachers and I by playing football with us and racing round - he was good too..... What a huge difference a uniform has in fostering a feeling of being proud for participation.

'Big 5' Safari

For those of you still interested in my blog....I've finally managed to make some semblance of life back to normality - well as normal as I can be after such a life changing journey.

When I had the weekend off in Moshi and did the Safari in Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara I managed to see the so-called "Big 5" - now that I'm back to a faster downloading internet connection here are my pictures of the "Top 5" from the Safari:  Rhino; Cheetah; Hippo; Lion and Elephant

This is definitely where I needed a good zoom camera so anyone who is going on a safari - definitely invest in a good zoom so you get great photo's. This cheetah and hippo were the only opportunities I had and they were too far away to get a decent photo........

This is the biggest male lion I've seen - he probably weighed about 250kg as that's generally maximum weight of a full grown lion. These two happened to be off by themselves 'enjoying' time together....quite rare to see.

And to top off a spectacular day, as we were leaving a family of elephants came out of the bush right beside the vehicle and there was a baby approx 1metre high (front) and a teeny, weeny one probs under 50cm in the background - so gorgeous!!

Cheetah Experience - Arabella the Baby Bengal Tiger

I am sad to have left Cheetah Experience !!! Being home is very different from the past 3 months..... It's winter here in NZ but nothing like the coldness I experienced in Bloemfontein!

My sleeping and eating habits are back to front and I'm finding this difficult - luckily it's the weekend so I have time before I'm back at work Monday.

It brought a sadness to my heart to receive a note about one of the baby Bengal Tigers - Arabella who has gotten sick - she is a beautiful, beautiful baby that you can't help but adore.

Please if you haven't already donated take a look at this video clip  Arabella the baby Bengal Tiger.....

Click on the link and let it grab your heart into donating to a baby that needs all the help she can get. These costs are in addition to my last blog on the Cheetah medical costs..... :-((

Cheetah Experience Fundraising

For my last project at Cheetah Experience in Bloemfontein I have used the last of the fundraising to 'adopt' Pepsi who is pregnant and due to give birth in September so needs to be looked after and fed extra carefully.

So thank you to all of you who have given and enabled me to have enough for this awesome project!!!!

In addition, I've also given some towards the vet bills that accumulate very easily!! Even before the expense of treatment is factored in, the costs of tests are in the thousands. They use a Cheetah and Wild Cat Specialist Vet who is 500km away from Cheetah Experience but is the best in the country so they very much need his expertise.

Currently the medical bills are R30,000......
The biggest scare when a cat is sick is 'Amyloid Amyloidosis' which is a deadly disease that results in kidney failure and death if left untreated. 70% of captive cheetahs die of this each year. Unfortunately because the survival rate of cheetahs in the wild is only round 10%, the only way to increase numbers is through captive breeding.... The disease resembles "Mad Cow Disease" so needs to be treated with care. It is uncertain how the disease spreads from cat to cat - research has shown that the abnormal proteins can be found in the faeces of affected cheetahs, and they suspect the disease is spread when the cats groom their fur, hence great care needs to be taken when a cheetah becomes sick.

Cheetah Experience also goes through volumes and volumes and volumes of food. This is the red meat given to the lions every week and this is the chicken which goes to all the cats daily. And yes I have gotten my hands dirty many times with cutting up the chicken in the meat room and feeding the meat to the cats.

As Cheetah Experience is a non-profit organisation they rely on donations, adoptions, volunteers and tours to continue operating.

If anyone would like to donate further please feel free to donate directly at: http://cheetahexperience.com/donate.php