Visit the De Wildt Cheetah Center

Posted by admin

April 30, 2009

afrika Most people travel to Africa to catch a glimpse of the abundant game. An experience in Africa is not complete without visiting some of their wildlife refuge areas. While in South Africa be sure to tour the De Wildt Cheetah Center.

The Cheetah Center is about a 50 minute drive from Johannesburg whether driving there by private car, bus, or taxi. Once at the Center, a tour guide drives visitors all around the park in a large green safari truck. The tour lasts about 3 hours and you can join a group or take a private tour once there to enjoy the park. You must call and book in advance, expect to pay about 35 US dollars for the basic group tour. Tours are available in the morning or afternoon on most days.

While touring the Center, my personal favorites were the cheetahs and the wild dogs. I was intrigued by the chirping noise the Cheetah made. They use this sound to call their young and communicate amongst themselves. There were also, several other types of animals including hyenas, meerkats, and vultures.

Keep in mind children under the age of 6 are not allowed on the tour because of close calls between the cheetah and children despite adult supervision. One tour guide explained that a cheetah jumped up at the truck trying to prey upon a child -unsuccessful, of course. The cheetah chooses smaller prey such as the gazelle, impala, hares, and game birds. So if you are over 5 feet tall, you are fairly safe as the cheetah deems it too much work to try to bring you down.

One of the tour guides explained how the De Wildt Cheetah Center breeds the animals and they sell the animals to zoos and wildlife reserves. They work hard to maintain and continue the genetic diversity in the cheetah and wild dog populations.

The De Wildt Cheetah Center has quite a history that began as a weekend getaway, then a family farm, and finally evolved into a rescue center for injured animals, eventually including two cheetah cubs that were rescued and then removed from the farm.

Coincidentally, a nearby zoo desired to breed cheetahs in captivity. The zoo realized they couldn’t do this in a metropolitan area and needed space to undergo such a project. They made an agreement to turn over the cheetahs to the De Wildt Estates, starting the Cheetah Center.