Southern Africa - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 154

more sophisticated accommodation as well
as trips to see wildlife and sites of cultural
heritage. NACOBTA has two great benefits for
these communities: it's a source of much-needed
income and also provides business training in
how to run the camp.
Two of the best-run camps are Damaraland
and Doro !Nawas, both of which are partnerships
between communities and Wilderness Safaris,
a long-established operator in southern Africa.
Damaraland is a small camp of just ten en-
suite, adobe-style thatched lodges by the Huab
River Valley, where you can go on game drives
to see elephants, gemsboks and greater kudu,
springboks. Doro !Nawas Lodge is a slightly
larger camp at the edge of the dry Aba-Huab
River and is a good base to go on guided trips
to the ancient Twyfelfontein rock cavings,
Namibia's first World Heritage Site.

possible reintroduction
to the wild (around 85
percent are ultimately
released). The hundred
or so cheetah on site live
in enclosures ranging
in size depending
upon the state of their
rehabilitation.
Thanks to the radio
collars used to monitor
them, the cheetahs are
far easier to find than
would normally be the
case. In some places,
the guides will take you
to around ten metres
from a pair of cheetahs
to watch them devour a
kill, or you'll follow them
on foot as they track
impala through the
bush. Sometimes they'll
run off, but generally
they accept your
presence. It's a great
opportunity to see how
the animals are honing
their hunting skills and
becoming ready to fend
for themselves again.
Some argue that the
cheetahs here aren't
truly wild, but Africat is
doing more to help this
animal survive than almost anyone else, and a
visit here is a chance to see it happening close
up.

Need to know For contact details, prices and
activities see W www.nacobta.com.na/joint_
ventures.php; T [phone]. Expert
Africa ( W www.expertafrica.com; T +44 (0) 208
232 9777) can organize trips to all of NACOBTA's
lodges and camps. Wilderness Safaris: W www.
wilderness-safaris.com.

193 TrACk CHEETAHS ON fOOT,
NAmIbIA

Few people ever see a cheetah in the wild. As
well as being one of the shyest of the big cats, it's
also one of the most endangered: perhaps only
ten thousand remain, around a quarter of those
in the barren expanses of Namibia.
If you're keen to see one then the Africat
Foundation, the world's most successful cheetah
and leopard rescue-and-release programme,
offers the best cheetah-spotting odds anywhere
outside a zoo. Based on the 223-square-kilometre
Okonjima guest farm near Otjiwarongo, where
guests stay in luxurious thatched chalets, Africat
funds a programme to rescue cheetahs captured
by farmers, thus saving them from the gun. It
then cares for the animals with a view to their

(From top) The speed signs
are for you rather than them; A
cheetah looks on

Need to know Okonjima is three hours' drive
north of Windhoek by car or bus, halfway to
Etosha National Park. As well as cheetah-watching
programmes, there are also opportunities to view
leopards and wild dogs. For details of rates,
activities and the lodge see W www.okonjima.com;
T [phone]/3/4.