The cheetah farm is a privately run reserve which currently houses around 25 cheetahs in three seperate enclosures plus the main homestead area.  In Namibia, these endangered cats are considered a nuisance as they hunt and kill the livestock.  Ordinarily, the farmers will just shoot any cheetah they find on "their" land, but with majority of Namibia fenced off as farming land, there are not many areas left of the cheetahs to go.  Mario and his family are attempted to redress the rate of depletion by paying money to farmers who bring them live cheetahs they have traped instead of shot.  They also have a captive breeding program, these are the cats that live up at the homestead.  When we were there, there were six "domesticated" cheetahs living with Mario and his family.

 

 We were able to pat these large cats although there are some pretty strict rules that need to be obeyed while in their company (that is of course unless you want  your arm torn off!)  Mario, our guide, showed us his various "battle scars" from when play time got a little rough.

 

The other cheetahs are housed adjacent to the campground in enclosures that range from 1 - 40 hectares.  Experiencing the late afternoon feeding session was a  spectacular sight as the cats and hissed and spat for their pieces of donkey or goat meat that was sitting below our feet on the ute.