Tenikwa

After some beach time and lunch we headed to Tenikwa wildlife awareness center focused on African wild cats. It was recommended to us while we were in town so we thought we would check it out.

You go on an hour guided tour thru the camps of some beautiful cats.. you go into their fenced areas and are able to interact with them (some more than others). It isn't very large but for the experience it was fantastic! They have many different types of wild cats but the big draw is the cheetahs.. we saw baby's that were just a few months old, teenagers that were about a year old and then adults that were 18 months old.. up close and personal. They have been hand reared so are very use to humans but still have their instincts. That was evident...when we went into the teenager cheetahs area, I was told to hold Evan and Aiden was to walk right in front of Scott. Aiden got just a couple of steps away from Scott (just enough to show distance between them) and the cheetahs sat up and were checking him out. You could just see it in their faces. Amazing! We were able to pet/touch the babies and the teenagers... Unbelievable!




This species of wild cat is dying off because it is getting cross bred with domestic cats and its habitat is being taken away.

These are the baby cheetahs.. they are about 3 months old. We were able to pet them while they lounged under a tree.






The lynx were pretty active.. there were three. The younger male was very active and actually came up to us and was rubbing up against our legs. So cool!!




Below are a few other cats that are wild and being threatened in their natural habitat. The big cats of Africa get alot of attention so these are falling by the way side.










Here are the teenage cheetahs which are around a year old.. They are two brothers. These are the ones that took notice of Aiden when he got a step away from Scott and they noticed it wasn't just one person but two and a smaller one at that!









These are photos of the adult cheetahs.. they are becoming endangered in the wild as well. The larger cats are preying on them as well as other animal steeling their food. They run very fast to catch their prey but then have to sit and rest before acutally being able to eat or get the prey out of the eyes of other predators..so others come steal the prey they just caught. They are just facsinating animals! Very alert and beautiful.






This is us with our guide. It was a great tour with unbelievable interaction! I never thought I would be able to pet a cheetah or be in the same open area with one.