The tour of the AfriCat foundation centre is the highlight of my stay at Okonjima – driving through the cheetah enclosures to see the different stages of rehabilitation, the female leopard used for education purposes, and the veterinary clinic provide a good overview of what AfriCat is trying to achieve.
In the afternoon, I elect to go African Wild Dog tracking. Apparently they can be hard to find, but we find the pack of 4 fairly easily. They are a newly blended pack – the 10 year old female survivor of the previous pack and 3 newly introduced 1 year olds.
What makes the afternoon is the introduction to Wahu – we hear him calling in the distance as soon as he hears our vehicle. This beautiful 18 year old male leopard has been in captivity since a farmer shot his mother when he was a tiny cub. He was raised by the family that owns Okonjima, and lived with them until he was too large and territorial to be around humans. He now has his own extra large enclosure at Okonjima, but having been raised around humans, wants to interact with as many as he can. At 90kg, he’s a large leopard that has lived much longer in captivity than he would have in the wild.
Tomorrow it’s off to Onguma Tented Camp, situated on the eastern side of Etosha National Park.
