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The AfriCat Foundation

The AfriCat Foundation works closely with communal and commercial livestock farmers, assisting in alleviating losses from predator intrusion by providing a rescue-and-release and relocation programme. Since 1993 AfriCat has rescued over 1000 cheetahs and leopards on Namibian farmland.

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Namibia is home to the world’s largest cheetah population. Namibia also has approximately 7000 commercial farmers on which the majority of the country’s leopards and cheetahs exist. These large carnivores occasionally prey upon calves, sheep and goats that roam unprotected in the veld. As a result, carnivores are often regarded as vermin by the livestock and game-farming community and are deliberately trapped.

AfriCat has had to take on a large number of cats no longer wanted on other establishments. Among the carnivores being researched and rehabilitated by AfriCat are cheetahs, leopards, lions and caracal. The 4000-hectare TUSK Cheetah Rehabilitation Camp was completed towards the end of 1999 and stocked with game by mid 2000.

The first cheetahs, 3 orphan sibling males, who had been with Okonjima since they were two months old, were released in November 2000. These cheetahs were monitored daily. They were successful in sustaining themselves almost from the start with hunts that included kudu, impala, scrub hares, hartebeest, zebra, steenbok and duiker.

On the morning of the 9th May 2002 Okonjima introduced the next 4 cheetahs into the camp with the hope that they will achieve the same success with the end goal being to relocate them to a game reserve or game park, thereby giving them a second chance in the wild, where they belong.

Although hunting in carnivores is instinctive, many of the cheetahs at AfriCat lack experience due to being orphaned or removed from the wild at an early age. This inexperience, as well as their conditioning to captivity makes these animals unsuitable for release. The ten thousand-acre (4000ha) TUSK Trust Cheetah Rehabilitation Camp provides these cheetahs with the opportunity to hone their hunting skills and become self-sustaining and thereby giving them a chance to return to the wild.