Where are we today? Sailing up the west coast of Africa

 Everyone is sensing the end of our 128 day journey coming in less than three weeks!  Yesterday, we had an interesting journey from Walvis Bay inland to an oasis in the Namib Desert and then to a small city up the coast and back again. Now, I understand why an oasis is prized!  But, I’ll blog more about that later, as I still am catching up on Thanda. 

On our second day at Thanda, we met at 5:00 AM for a quick morning snack.  We piled into our car at 5:30 and were off in search of game.  Like most places, Thanda is extra beautiful at sunrise. 

We went back to a lake where we had seen a lioness and cubs, but they weren’t there. Our guide got a radio message that cheetahs had been spotted a long way west of us, so we high tailed it over there in the hope that we could see them.  They don’t show themselves easily, so our guide and tracker said we shouldn’t miss this opportunity. 

At one point, we came across a journey of giraffes — my favorites. 

We saw three cheetah cubs.  They are nearly grown.  Their mother has another litter already, so she has left them to hunt on their own.  They will soon separate from each other, as well.

Two of the cheetah cavorted me okayed and didn’t seem to mind us being there.  The third hung back. You can see that the cubs have collars on.  Though they are in the wild, vets are monitoring their progress in life.  

Cheetah are endangered for many reasons:1) Their habitat has shrunk.  2) In a shrinking habitat, lions will kill cheetah to keep them from competing for food. 3) Cheetah are fast, but they must rest after catching prey.  In that time, other animals will steal their kill. 4) As cheetah numbers have dwindled, cheetah have suffered from inbreeding. 

The father cheetah died after they were conceived. Thanda is cooperating with other game parks to trade make cheetahs to fight the inbreeding. They will get a new name soon, and the male cubs will go elsewhere.  

We were blessed to see these adolescent cubs.  A known leopard was more elusive.  In three days, we didn’t spot one, 

The giraffes were still near. 

They As we traveled on, we happened upon Thanda’s main pride of lions.  They were all sitting across the road and staring into the distance.  It turns out that Cape buffalo were grazing in a grassy space. 

The Cape buffalo sensed them, and “advance guards” came nearer to challenge the lions.  A lioness would sneak closer, and a buffalo would drive her back.  Our guide said this could go on for hours.  We found a way to go around the

This lone elephant cut across the road we wanted to take.  Of course, we gave him the right of way. 😉 He paused to relieve himself, not an appetizing sight right before breakfast. 

See you all soon!