at about 2200 m elevation.We were happy that this is the slow season, as a 10 a.m. phone call resulted in a 2 p.m. reservation for lunch and a spot on the game drive. We have photos of the experience archived on our Picasa Web Album, with captions to provide some details of what we saw. Here, I thought I'd talk about the lodge and their conservation efforts.
When conservation and ecotourism mix, it's always interesting. It is possible for some ventures to go too far to the tourism end, and do almost anything to make money. Think about the road-side zoo's that appeared in the US during the 60's as the interstate highway system started to provide a captive audience of bored people. On the flip side, it is certainly possible to design an ecotourism venture that provides income to support important conservation efforts. After spending the day at Amani, it seems the latter describes their venture.
The road from Windhoek, which is the main road to Walvis Bay on the coast, became a gravel road after 10 km. The little entrance road to Amani was a fun test for the Toyota, which we have affectionately named "Polly" (because it has a Polytechnic sticker on each side). When we arrived, they had our table waiting for us. We were the only people dining at 2 p.m. in a gorgeous thatched dining area. Many of the tables and the bar were made from native trees, and the entire lodge blended into the hillside very well.
The game drive at Amani consists of a driving adventure through hillsides and canyons to reach three fenced areas. Each area holds a different large cat. We first visited the lion area, which is 25 ha and holds a male and female lion. These guys were brought to Amani when their owner, who had raised them from cubs in his house, figured out that lions could eat him. They will be at Amani for their entire life, as they could not be released to the wild. First, they are still somewhat aggressive and were raised with humans--not a good mix. And, they've been in captivity their entire life. The lodge has built a viewing stand/blind and every afternoon some brave soul spreads meat parts around right before the game drive comes by. As you can see by our photos, you get a very close-up view of lions. The guide gives a good, hushed talk about lions. It's certainly not seeing lions in the wild, but it is creative way to bring in some income from a pair of lions that might have been euthanized if Amani didn't take them. We could hear the lions roaring during the rest of our visit.
Next stop was a leopard, which lives alone in another large area. The leopard came to Amani from a farm in South Africa, where it was found with a very injured front leg. Although it was a wild leopard, the injury has kept it from returning to the wild. Amani has been working to rehabilitate it--and in the past 3-4 months, it has gained enough strength in the leg to start jumping up in trees like leopards should. They place meat high in a tree to lure it and train it to jump again. Kelly pointed out that a person has to climb the tree to place the leg-o-game for it, so someone gets some fun. We asked the guide about this, and he said they fill that position daily...!
It was raining off and on during the first part of our drive, so we returned to the lodge for coffee and a fire in their braai. It was fairly cool high up on the mountain, and most of our group decided to call it a day. However, we had not seen the wild cheetahs, and we voted to go back out. It turned out to be an excellent decision. Not only did we have the guide to ourselves, now, but the rain cleared. And, the others missed the best part of the day.
Amani has an agreement with the Cheetah Conservation Fund. One of the CCF's functions is to serve as a holding center for cheetahs that might otherwise be killed by farmers. Cheetahs are a species of critical conservation need world-wide, and they have been the focus of much research because of their low genetic variability. In Namibia, cheetahs are doing very well, because their habitat is mostly intact because of ranching (similar to how the Nebraska Sandhills is keeping grassland habitat intact, because row-cropping is not possible). The problem in Namibia is that sheep are tasty and cheetahs often become pests to farmers. So, the CCF provides an option--offering to take cheetahs and relocate them if they become problems.
Amani serves as a 'half-way house' for cheetahs. They have a very large area for them to essentially run wild. Just 4 months ago, Amani released 5 cheetahs to Namibrand, which is another, much larger reserve in western Namibia. The cheetahs were marked with GPS tracking collars (paid for with our entrance fees to Amani), and are hunting on their own. We got to see their replacements--5 new cheetahs brought from CCF. The 5 cheetahs we saw are 2 sets of brothers who came to CCF as cubs. They are now full-grown, but not ready to release to the wild. Amani is training them to eat and work collaboratively. Competition is fierce in nature, and our guide explained how cheetahs are smaller-framed than other cats, which allows them to attain their fast speeds. But, they often lose their prey to other carnivores once they catch it. So, cheetahs must eat quickly in groups--no waiting for each other to eat in order of hierarchy. And, this is something that must be learned.
We got to watch as our guide threw out a zebra frontquarter--less than 5 m from the truck. We got a front-row seat as the 5 cheetahs lined up like little feeder pigs at the trough and found their section of leg. They grip the leg and each other with their dew-claw. One of them actually got his dew claw caught on his own face for a bit, and he was frustrated about that. It was a great experience to see it so close. We are fairly certain that liability insurance probably would limit this attraction in the states, as there was no rail, no fence, no anything between us and the cheetahs.
Thus ended our first major exploration of ecotourism in Namibia. We enjoyed seeing some big cats close up, and felt very good about the objectives and motivations of Amani Lodge. It was amazing how 'wild' their area seemed, only 20 km from Windhoek. But, in the drive to and from town, we passed about 6-7 cars on the road--it doesn't take much distance to get into the bush!
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