Tag: safari

Cheetah Experience

On By CheetahTravelsIn south africaLeave a comment

I volunteered at Cheetah Experience Bloemfontein in October 2017 for a few weeks and it was one of the best experiences of my life. They offer day tours, day volunteering (for locals) and weekly volunteering for international guests. It is a pay-to-volunteer program but is relatively cheap compared to other programs I’ve seen out there. It includes housing, some food, transport, and a wealth of knowledge and interactions with the animals. The staff at Cheetah Experience are extremely caring, and dedicated towards the well being of the animals which includes cheetahs, leopards, lions, a tiger, caracals, servals, wildcats, meerkats, and wolves. The tours that are given include a ton of education about the animals, conservation, and Cheetah Experience’s efforts to help the endangered species that live there. Volunteering includes training before interacting with any animals. While at Cheetah Experience you get to help feed the animals, give tours, create enrichment projects, and clean the enclosures. There is some hard work involved, but also plenty of downtime for animal interactions. Depending on the animals, you can even have a sleepover with some of them. I had a sleepover with three cheetah cubs and cuddling with the giant cats, and waking up to the African sunrise (and them licking my face) was truly magical. I will 100% go back if I get the chance. They also just opened up another location outside of Cape Town.

To learn more visit their website at CheetahExperience.com

 

Mukuni Big 5 Safaris

On By CheetahTravelsIn ZambiaLeave a comment

They have a variety of activities like watching cheetah’s run, and cheetah interactions, lion interactions, and elephant rides. They’ll pick you up from your lodge/hotel as the place is pretty out of the way. My first trip to Livingstone I did a cheetah interaction and my second trip I did an elephant ride. I’m a little conflicted, and want to research the place more. I’ve heard rumors that they don’t treat the animals very well. What I heard was just rumors, but I know there are a number of places like this across Africa that do animal interactions where they sedate the animals so that they will let tourists pet them. I didn’t know about this when I went the first time and did the cheetah interaction. It makes me feel a little uncomfortable inside. Like I said I’m not accusing this place of that, I don’t know enough about this specific organization. I just know that it is happening in other places like this one. I’d say if you’d like to go here, just do some of your own research, and make your own conclusions.

http://www.mukunibig5.com

Chaminuka Game Drive

On By CheetahTravelsIn ZambiaLeave a comment

We went on an afrternoon game drive with them. It was nice, about an hour. We saw a number of different deer and antelope, and giraffes. We heard another group saw elephants but ours didn’t. Those in the group with me weren’t all that impressed with the enclosures the big cats were kept in. They had lions and cheetahs. We were told they had dozens (hundreds?) of acres to roam, but all we saw were them in a small area. We may have come at a bad time though when they were moved into smaller enclosures for a good reason I don’t know. I’d say if you’re already at Chaminuka for something else than go for it, but I wouldn’t come to Chaminuka specifically for the game drive, there are better parks.

Visit their site for more details: www.chaminuka.com

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Lilayi Elephant Nursery

On By CheetahTravelsIn ZambiaLeave a comment

I’m gonna preface this by saying I did not do the game drive, or see any of the animals, besides the babies in the nursery. I simply went to see the baby elephants. They are SO cute and if you love elephants I would recommend going to see them and spending the afternoon just watching them. That being said, if you have seen elephants before and are not totally “in love” with them, maybe see what else Lilaya has to offer. The part where you see the baby elephants is just a small enclosure that you climb up into a tree house like structure to watch them. They’re very cute, and I’m glad I saw it, but it was an excursion that was given to me for free, I’m not sure I would have gone there on my own otherwise. It’s a little bit of a drive outside of main Lusaka.

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Eastern – South Luangwa Park

On By CheetahTravelsIn ZambiaLeave a comment

South Luangwa National Park was my first safari I’ve ever been on. We got a Peace Corps discount and stayed at Croc Valley in the dorms. It was a real nice place. The rooves were thatched, and it had a cool insaka (thatched shelter) you can hang out in. The lodge was right on the river, and you can hear the hippos at night. We got in late but the place had food ready for us in anticipation of our arrival. The food was so good! Three courses! Definitely more than we were picturing. The next morning we woke early and did a morning game drive. We saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, hyenas, and hippos. In our evening game drive we saw the same, and even spotted a leopard! It got so close to our car. I felt a little uncomfortable though because there were about 5 cars following the leopard around with high beams on all trying to get a look. The leopard seemed a little scared. All in all though I recommend Croc Valley. South Luangwa is a beautiful park FILLED with animals.

Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve

On By CheetahTravelsIn MalawiLeave a comment

Going here was a nice, cheap, day trip from our lodge in Nkhata bay. We met our tour guide at the lodge. Normally I’d advise against just spur-of-the-moment going with the first tour guide who approaches you. It could have very easily been a fraud. But, lucky for us he turned out to be a somewhat decent guy. He picked us up from the lodge in the morning and drove us to the park. We got stuck in a giant puddle on the way and the driver needed to pay some people to help push us out. The park had beautiful scenery. Malawi is beautiful in general, but there was something special about this place. We saw one elephant, some monkeys, some deer-like creatures and hundreds of Hippos. We saw one hippo walking through the woods. I never realized how truly big hippos were until I saw this one! I thought I was in Jurassic park or something. We spotted about a hundred hippos in the lake. We got out of the car and started walking towards them. We were able to get pretty close. Our guide got closer and seemed very excited but my friend and I stopped when they looked at us and started standing up. I know I can’t outrun a hippo. We ate lunch overlooking a beautiful valley, drove around a bit more but didn’t see anything and started back. Now I would say you should go to this park if you love hippos.. but the road leading up to the park we saw a few people carrying pieces of hippo meat that had been poached. Our wonderful tour guide even stopped to see if he could buy some, and that’s when I saw a giant hippo graveyard. So the park I wouldn’t give the highest review for conservation, or variety in animal population (as it was mostly hippos). Our guide was very enthusiastic, cheap, and friendly, but his enthusiasm at buying poached hippo meat threw me off a bit. It was a nice change of pace, and a chance to leave the lodge and see more of Malawi though. I’d recommend going to Vwaza if you’re in the area, catch a nice deal, and don’t have the biggest problem with hippo poaching.

Vwaza Wildlife Reserve

Cresta Mowana Lodge

On By CheetahTravelsIn BotswanaLeave a comment

This lodge is built around a giant Baobab tree, and is right on the Chobe River, north of Chobe National Park. All the rooms have balconies with beautiful views. You can even spot some warthogs running around. This lodge was paid for me by family that was visiting, but I’m guessing the prices are pretty steep (you can check their website below). The rooms are comfortable. They have mosquito nets, a shower, and a tub with hot water. The staff are very helpful and friendly. The lodge has a log cabin feel with thatched roofs. There is a real nice pool and balcony bar area. There is a gift shop, but everything seemed very expensive. The dining area was beautiful and the food was amazing. It is buffet style and offers different game meat every night for you to try out. The only thing I wouldn’t give 5 stars to was the spa. I only got a massage but it was very painful (although that could have been because my back was so bad), and she started massaging areas I asked her not to. But I would definitely recommend this Lodge to anyone who is visiting the northern part of Chobe park, has the money and wants to splurge on a real nice place.

http://www.crestamowana.com

Cresta Mowana Map