Tires 321 - 324: Okonjima

It was a quick and comfortable drive on the C39 / C38 to the grand B1 to Okonjima, Herero name for Place of the Baboons, confusingly the location of the AfriCat Foundation, lay name for Place of the Cats. Okonjima is a 22,500 hectare (55,598 acre (87 square mile (38% size of Chicago (90% size of Milwaukee)))) reserve dedicated to the rehabilitation of Cheetah, Leopard and other cats. There was a bit of a Jurassic Park feel to it, with the multiple gates of entry, bringing us closer and closer to the predator areas. Two Oryx posed for us in one of the long sally ports but the T-Rex didn’t show, much to our chagrin.

LEOPARD CROSSING

T-REX LUNCH

The lodge is comprised of a central building and walkways to large circular hut style rooms with open air views to grazing areas for animals, and seed for the many birds. Without knowing the layout of the reserve and boundaries of fences that keep the leopards separate, it is a little tenuous walking the paths after (or before) sunset, but we saw no circling vultures so we braved it for the two nights we were there.

The activities consisted primarily of game drives in the three separate reserves. Arriving in the afternoon, we had the opportunity to join a drive in the 4,500 hectare reserve where a number of Leopards had been born and had hunted their whole lives. The Leopards are tracked by a radio signal emitted from collars they wear around their necks. Not but two minutes after we entered the very tall gate to the reserve did we hear a beep . . . beep . . . beep.

From there we drove through the bush, listening to the signal get stronger and stronger, to a point where we figured the cat was holding onto the bumper. Our guide spotted it finally, just in time to start the search for dinner. Over the next hour, we moved in and out of the bush, following this beautiful Leopard looking for food. We came around a corner at one point and were twenty feet away. The Leopard was on its belly looking forward at a Steenbok that was happily eating away at some leaves on a bush. It is a strange moral dilemma to be presented with such a wild moment. The Steenbok is a small deer like animal that holds a strong resemblance to Bambi. Nobody roots for Bambi to die but all the underlying carnal motivations from our caveman days seemed to come out of hibernation because it felt as if everybody in the truck was anxiously awaiting for the statuesque Leopard to pounce. After a half hour, dinner walked away and we were spared the confrontation with our dilemma.

THE STATUE

ELAND AT DUSK

OKONJIMA SUNSET

SUNDOWNERS

The following day, we went on another drive, this time in search for the Cheetahs in the larger 16,000 hectare reserve. We drove for hours tracking the Cheetah with no luck, but saw many birds and antelope such as Oryx, Eland, Kudu, Steenbok and Springbok, and were given lessons on what bark to eat to fight off gut worms or leaves to make poison arrows. After driving from one end of Milwaukee to the other, we found the Cheetahs, jumped out of the truck, and walked over to them. A group of five or so were napping under a tree, taking turns keeping watch for food and ignoring the cavemen standing fifty feet away.

CHEETAH SPOTS CAVEMEN

MOUNTAIN ZEBRA

That evening, we had time for one last drive, back in the realm of the Leopard but this time tracking Hyena. We had two guides this evening and after a couple hours, we honed in on the Hyena. As with the Cheetahs, it is apparently safe to get out of the truck and search for the scavenger on foot once the signal is strong enough. We were far off the road now and we knew by firsthand experience that Leopard stalked here. Our guide checked frequency A to make sure the Leopard was at a safe distance. A very slight beep could be heard but we were assured that the predator was miles away.

Switching back to the strong and loud frequency B, we walked in the bush until we stumbled upon a Kudu carcass and a resting behemoth of a Hyena. Ironically, it was not more than 10 yards off the dirt road that we had been driving on before lodging the 4x4 deep in the bush and going by foot. While enjoying the site of the huge doglike animal, our guides were having a private meeting, discretely playing with the radio. Frequency B remained strong, but they continued to switch back to another frequency that sounded as if it was growing in strength. Our guide was also on his radio to the other guides seemingly gathering information with a serious look on his face.

This is the point where the second guide sprinted off into the bush to find the truck and the rest of us stupid cavemen began walking down the road, trying to get away from the growing signal on frequency A. It was a tense five minutes, feeling completely exposed, listening to the incessant and quickening beep . . . beep . . . beep . . beep . . beep . beep . beep! The truck arrived. We were saved.

HYENA GOING TO SCAVENGE KUDU

BEEP . . . BEEP . . BEEP . BEEP.BEEP.BEEEEEEP!

Like big tough guys now in our tank, we turned and headed for the strong Leopard signal and after a couple minutes, found it up in a tree feasting on a baby Oryx. As the sun was setting behind us, we watched the tree shake with the sound of snapping bones. The cat had spared us the moral wrestling from the day before and took care of business while we were wandering the roads. Better the Oryx than us. The little guy probably saved our lives.

Okonjima had been a real treasure, giving us the chance to see many animals in a setting that although technically had fences, was large enough to be a true habitat. The only animal we hadn’t seen was giraffe, which surprised our guide. He was actually apologizing to us about missing the normally prevalent animal when we almost ran into two of them, eating dinner from tall branches in the foreground of another beautiful Namibian sunset. Had they been Brontosaurus in Jurassic Park, the awe and silence from the truck would have been no different.

CRUNCHING BONES

SUNSET IN THE BUSH

JURASSIC PARK

THE NIGHT BEFORE THE RETURN TO THE STATE OF THE WORLD CHAMPION GREEN BAY PACKERS