Last weekend I went out to Chaminuka Lodge outside of Lusaka for their "cheetah experience." Most websites say the lodge is near the airport in Lusaka, but with nearly 20 km of terrible, dusty dirt roads, it took over an hour to get there from my apartment. I'd read that taxi rides from town could cost up to $150. As we were driving, I thought no wonder!
The lodge has two male cheetahs, Chipo (which means "gift" in one of the Zambian local languages) and Chaminuka (place on a hill). They are 14 months old and grew up around humans, so they are relatively tame. The cheetahs are "educational ambassadors" of a program that works to reduce poaching in Southern Africa. Schools can schedule free field trips so that students learn to love and protect the animals.
As a tourist, I paid for my visit but it was well worth spending an hour petting and walking and hanging out with cheetahs. The trainers told us to approach them from the back; if we approached them from the front, the cheetahs might think we wanted to play - but cheetahs play rough and use their teeth and claws. We could put the back of our hands up to the cheetah's mouth while we were petting them, and they would lick our hands as a way of saying, "Thanks for petting me!"
[Updated with photos - thanks, Rahul! All except the first two photos were taken by Rahul Mitra.)
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| Chipo |
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| Chaminuka (left); Chipo (right) yawning |
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| "Thanks for petting me!" (Translation from trainers) |
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| Walking Chipo |
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