Cheetahs!

As Chels said previously, we decided to try out a horseback safari at Mokolodi Game Reserve outside of Gabs. While I’ve done lots of game drives I’ve never tried one from a horse so it sounded fun. We made a reservation, caught a taxi out there, and signed in and paid. Then while we were waiting I head a lady who worked there talking on the phone and sounding agitated. Some of it was in Setswana but I thought I heard something about horses and “they’re here now and they already paid.” It didn’t seem like a good sign but they didn’t say anything to us so we just waited. Then the manager walked up. She explained that just that morning one of their horses had escaped from the corral and bolted into the bush and that they hadn’t been able to find him since (which wasn’t very encouraging for the reliability of riding their horses). She asked if we wanted to do a game drive instead. I wasn’t convinced but then she said she’d throw in a cheetah visit so we agreed.

The game drive was fine. They had a lot of ostrich, which was neat to see, and several other birds. There weren’t too many large mammals, but it was all redeemed when just before we started back we saw three of their five white rhino. There was a female with a baby, which was very cute, being followed by a big male. It was neat! I was really glad Chels got to see them because Mokolodi is the only place in Botswana other than Khama Rhino Sanctuary that has rhino and we probably won’t have time to visit Khama, so this was Chels’ one chance to see them.

The cheetah visit was great too! They have two male cheetahs that were orphaned and raised at Mokolodi. They are kept in a large fenced area and we got to go in. It was neat to suddenly round some bushes and see the cheetahs sitting up ahead in the brush. We got to walk right up to them and scratch their heads. It was awesome being so close! I’ve only ever seen a cheetah in the wild once briefly in Kenya so getting to see these for so long and up so close and personal was really very neat! It was definitely worth the visit.

~Tim