"Incredible leopard viewing experience!" Everything at Okonjima was amazing! The rooms were absolutely stunning! The views from bed were incredible. The rooms are very spacious. The food was delicious! Some of the best we had while in Namibia. We really enjoyed the night drive with Peter. It was exciting to see aardvarks and porcupines. The highlight of our trip was a leopard with Peter. We found the leopard with her baby eating a baby oryx in a tree. Then a brown hyaena arrived to try and steal the prey item. Truly amazing !!! Clients visited Okonjima in June 2018 #Okonjima #Namibia #wildlifeencounters #travel#holiday okonjima.com/activities/leopard-viewing/ © Richard Zaayman

We have a new update about one of our favourite leopard ladies on the website. Electra. Electra was collared in the 20,000 ha Okonjima Nature Reserve on 7 May 2010, for tracking and research purposes. In the beginning she was skittish, shy of people and cars, and the guides hardly ever saw her. It was only in January 2013, since found mating with TJ and Nkosi, that Electra started to relax a bit. http://africat.org/electra-a-leopard-s-story-so-far

https://okonjima.wordpress.com/2018/04/08/catch-up-with-africats-cheetahs-the-saltpans-aeroplanes-and-the-masters/

Latest news about how our groups of cheetahs are getting on in the wild.

Text: Nina van Schalkwyk Photographs Elzanne Erasmus & Nina van Schalkwyk

There’s a certain kind of fevour that is seen only in the eyes of people with a passion for education. Gleaming with their fondness for it. Is it because they are changing the world, one pliable mind at a time? That must be it. I am thinking this while chatting to Sue Wagner, a lifelong teacher and this weekend’s chaperone for the Mondesa Youth Opportunities (MYO) kids, who’s got exactly that look in her eyes. The MYO group arrived the previous night at AfriCat’s Okonjima Nature Reserve, just south of Otjiwarongo, to take part in an AfriCat education programme, or veldskool. The group came all the way from Swakopmund, where most of them have lived their whole lives. In fact, as Sue tells me, the aim behind this weekend’s excursion is to showcase a part of Namibia that they have never seen before.

But why AfriCat? Why travel all the way from the coast to the dusty plateau so far removed from anything these kids know? Areas of farmland close to the town of Otjiwarongo have been combined into what is Okonjima. The 22 000 hectare private game reserve is home to a selection of lodges as well as AfriCat, a large carnivore education and research-based welfare organisation. Okonjima means ‘place of the baboon’, but while we are there baboons take a bit of a back seat to all the predators on the prowl that salted explorers such as myself and my colleague still are impressed to see. For the kids, it’s another story. Spotting cheetah under a bush in the open veld is one thing, walking in a direct line towards them, is a totally different matter. These cheetahs are part of AfriCat’s rehabilitation programme and thus they are used to humans. Either way, i was too skitiish for this particular part of the journey and opted to stay in the car.

Read the whole article: Travel News Namibia Spring 2017: https://issuu.com/travelnewsnamibia/docs/tnn_spring_2017_issuu/28

With a 'Lion Light' the future's Bright A lioness named SPOTS, and her 10-month old cubs, struggle to find sufficient food through wildlife, inside of the Protected Area they have as their home. Since the rainfall, improved grazing and available water has encouraged the wildlife to disperse, leaving SPOTS and her family a home range with very little to feed on. Along the borders of this protected area, SPOTS has found a good source of 'easy-meat' on a communal livestock farm; when the farmers keep their cattle safe in 'bomas' or kraals, she finds it difficult to kill the domestic stock; however, when cattle and donkeys are left to roam unattended, she has more than enough to feed her hungry cubs . . . but this comes at a price . . . the certain death of the huntress and her cubs. AfriCat North supports such farming communities in 'lion-conflict' zones by erecting strong 'bomas' or kraals. Now, AfriCat North is planning to support a larger number of farmers to better protect their livestock: AfriCat needs to supply these community-kraals with 'lion-lights'. 'Lion-lights' have been successfully tried and tested in Kenya, reducing the loss of livestock as well as minimising the retaliatory killing of lions. SPOTS and her family are just one of the prides facing such challenges in Namibia’s north west. SPOTS, like ten other lions within the AfriCat North study area, has been GPS-Satellite collared. Two-hourly updated positions enable AfriCat’s team of Lion Guards to warn farmers of lion movement, encouraging the use of the kraals to protect their livestock and to mitigate conflict. Namibia boasts a small yet healthy lion population: thus, Every Lion is important in a dwindling wild species that is the ultimate African predator. 'Lion Lights' will keep the Lions Alive and farmers, with their livestock, safe. PLEASE HELP US RAISE FUNDS FOR OUR FIRST SET OF LION LIGHTS!!! https://www.gofundme.com/LionLivesMatter

#AfriCatInformationCentre #CarnivoreCare #EnvironmentalEducation The Three Phases of AfriCat’s Carnivore Care & Information Centre See how we have adapted and transformed over the years. We’ve come a long way since afternoon tea with 'Chinga' on the lawn! From cheetah, lion and leopard rescue, care and release - TO rescue, rehabilitation, community support and research! From farmer support - TO 'Conservation Through Education'! We are committed to encouraging our youth and communities to ensure the survival of large carnivores, within a balanced ecosystem. Here at AfriCat, over the past two decades, the Rescue and Release Programme developed as a result of our relationship with the farming community. The 'Welfare and Carnivore Care Centre', in turn, was a by-product of the Rescue and Release Programme. http://africat.org/the-three-phases-of-africat-s-carnivore-care-information-centre

From our losses to our latest additions, our successes and our failures! The work we do may seem extravagant and at times even heroic, however it all comes with a price. After a year such as 2016, we have to focus on how far we’ve come and how much we’ve all helped achieve for our Namibian carnivores. We need to focus on our future goals and our strategies to make an even greater difference for our endangered species in 2017!!! This report gives you all you need to know about our Leopards, Cheetah, Wild Dogs and Hyaena in the Okonjima Nature Reserve. Which cat or dog do you think was the most spotted in 2016? http://africat.org/season-report-2016-1-dec-30-nov-2016

Okonjima and AfriCat thank The Debmarine Namdeb Foundation for their  donation of wanderer tents which will help our Environmental Education Programme. https://okonjima.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/debmarine-namdeb-foundation-donation-handover/ 

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6cy3b1OD7s)

One of our latest videos shot at Okonjima.

Situated halfway between Namibia’s capital city, Windhoek, and the Etosha National Park, the private 55,000 acres / 200km²/20,000 ha. Okonjima Nature Reserve has some of the best accommodation in Namibia, but the unequivocal highlight has to be the cheetah and leopard safaris.Namibian safaris are magnificent and, as The AfriCat Foundation rehabilitates cheetahs, wild dogs, and hyaenas, there are unlimited opportunities to see these beautiful carnivores in their natural environment within the huge Okonjima Nature Reserve.

#Okonjima   #AfriCat   #Safari   #Conservation  

**PERIVOLI OKONJIMA COUNTRY SCHOOL HAS ITS OWN WEBSITE** Please visit our brand new website for all the latest information on our Perivoli Okonjima Country School. Get to know the kids, what they are up to, learn all about our environmental education program AND most importantly how YOU can help them achieve their dreams ;)!

http://www.perivoliokonjimacountryschool.org/

The Perivoli Okonjima Country School welcomed chefs Sidney and Alison to give our kiddies a baking experience they would never forget.

https://okonjima.wordpress.com/2016/11/17/pocs-kiddies-baking-experience/

AfriCat UK and Team GB Olympic Rowers. https://okonjima.wordpress.com/2016/10/29/africat-uks-fundraiser-with-team-gb-olympic-rowers/

The Annual AfriCat Health took place and vets from around the region carried on their research projects as well as giving all our carnivores a thorough health check here in the Okonjima Nature Reserve

Petting cute #LionCubs - did you know you are supporting the #CannedLionHunting Industry ?

Today is #WorldLionDay

DID YOU KNOW: Every single day in South Africa at LEAST 2-3 captive bred or tame lions are being killed in canned hunts! And 100's more are slaughtered annually for the lion bone trade...(Bloodlions,2016) HOW CAN YOU HELP? ***DONT SUPPORT*** - Cub Petting - Walking with Lions - Canned Lion Hunting - Lion Breeding Farms SUPPORT ETHICAL CONSERVATION FOUNDATIONS SUCH AS THE AFRICAT FOUNDATION!!! By donating to the AfriCat Foundation you are actively helping our fight for the survival of the large carnivores in Namibia, for this week ESPECIALLY the LION! Funds will help Lion Research, Community Support, Education and much much more! You can also ADOPT a Lion Ambassador at the AfriCat Carnivore Care Centre! The funding is used to cover veterinary and food bills for the Lions in our care in order for the very crucial work of Environmental Education to continue... PLEASE follow the link below for more details on how you can make a difference!!! http://www.africat.org/index.php http://www.africat.org/support/support-an-africat-project

More research carried out by the vets at this years annual health check. Laparoscopic salpingectomy in two captive leopards using a single portal access system (A new surgical technique for sterilizing leopards is described for the first time). Ongoing collaboration with scientists and the conservation authorities and working closely with the farming community allows for studies to be conducted that provide valuable information on large carnivores and their long-term conservation in Namibia. AfriCat has been involved in a number of studies involving the carnivore 'ambassadors' at AfriCat, captive and free-roaming. The annual health examinations of the cats at AfriCat give invited specialist veterinarians the opportunity to conduct research of various aspects of animal health, particularly those relating to the health of large carnivores in captivity. #Leopards #AfriCatResearch #LaparoscopicSalpingectomy http://www.africat.org/laparoscopic-salpingectomy-in-two-captive-leopards-using-a-single-portal-access-system

It was Sunday, the 26th of June – the evening before AfriCat’s annual health check was about to start . . . Team AfriCat and the participating vets were in preparation for an early start the following day, when we received a phone call after sunset from the Chairperson of Okamatapati Conservancy (a communal conservancy approx. 160 km east of Okonjima) – a communal farmer was in possession of nine orphaned Wild Dog pups. #wilddogs #AfricanPaintedDog #AfriCat https://okonjima.wordpress.com/2016/07/28/africat-rescues-9-deserted-wild-dog-pups/