Other things at the cheetah center: US

We are very glad we went to the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Center. Even though we couldn't meet and pet their "ambassador cheetah" or see them race (again - our kids are snack sized still), we got a much closer look at them than we could anywhere else. It was one of the high points of our two months in South Africa.

I should mention that their Facebook page has some more good pictures and goings on.

Princess just loves those cheetahs! The next Ann van Dyk?

Other things at the Cheetah center: plants, caracals, and vultures

'Allo, Vera!

Yeah, so their aloe vera plants grow quite a bit taller than the ones back home. They're decoration all over Pretoria - prolific, tall, and colorful.










They also have a serval (didn't get a good shot) and this caracal. Our tour guide stuck bits of food through the gate so we got to see him really up close!

This was my favorite animal at the cheetah center, partly thanks to that look on his face in the lower picture.

The vultures we saw were impressive. The ones at the cheetah center were all injured or unable to fly away, so they made up their breeding stock.

These white Cape vultures fascinated Joy at the Pretoria zoo. They are monogamous and mourn about six years when their spouse dies before choosing another mate. Compared to some animals, that's like half their life.

The Egyptian vultures have a crown of spiky white hair and orange faces. This was one of Joy's favorite animals in all of South Africa

Here are the ugly vultures we're accustomed to from movies, the Lappet-faced vultures.

Some pretty trees. Aww.

Other things at the Cheetah center: African dogs

Behold: the sausage tree.

SAUSAGE tree?

Yep. Now you know how they make the sausage. It grows on a tree. The sausage tree is apparently sacred in parts of Africa. The sausage itself is pretty dangerous - toxic ripe and unripe, and they've been known to damage the cars and people they fall on.








This is the cheetah van we drove in.

The rest of  the pictures show African wild dogs. They are endangered.

They hunt in packs and never attack humans.

There's a video on the bottom of some adults and their kids. One of the most fascinating things was their bark - really high pitched yipping.

See dee Chee-tahs

We went to the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Center. It's an environmentalist center devoted to breeding and preserving cheetahs, wild dogs, and a few other animals as they happen to gain stocks. Here are some of our favorite cheetah pictures.

The center gives two different kinds of tours. If you have small children (under 6), then you get the family tour. The difference between the family tour from the regular one is that the regular tour goes into the pens with the cheetahs while the family tour stays outside the pens. Why? Because our kids look like a yummy snack!