The 16 000ha NEW Okonjima and AfriCats Rehabilitation Nature Reserve
Completed 17 May 2010
Over the last 17 years The AfriCat Foundation has rescued over 1000 cheetahs and leopards that have been trapped as a result of human/wildlife conflict on the farmlands in Namibia. Read the latest AfriCat statistics.
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Over 85% of these big cats have been returned to the wild.
As with most animal rescue programmes there are those individuals that cannot be released immediately. Injured as well as orphaned cheetahs and leopards, too young to be on their own in the wild without their mothers, are taken into AfriCat’s care.
Now some of these cats have been given their chance to return to the wild...
AfriCat’s large carnivore rehabilitation programme was initiated in 2000 to give some of their captive cheetahs an opportunity to return to their natural environment.
2 years on the fencing of the last section of Okonjima’s 22 000ha Nature Reserve - has been completed! This protected, 16 000ha wilderness, in the center of commercial farmland, enables AfriCat to expand and accelerate its rehabilitation programme with the ultimate aim of returning more large carnivores to the wild.
This is an extremely high specification fence; 82 km’s in length, which is predator proof as well as monitor lizard, tortoise and pangolin friendly! Part of the 22 000ha property is now divided into a 16 000 ha park for cheetah rehabilitation and a 4 500 ha park for the more dominant predators such as leopard and hyena. However the 16 000 ha reserve is also home to brown Hyaena and the resident leopard that were in this area before the fence was completed. The larger reserve will initially accommodate up to 12, 16 or 18 cheetahs providing a much greater variety of tracking opportunities.
The cheetahs in this reserve have been fitted with radio-collars so that they can be tracked on a daily basis in order to monitor their welfare, condition and hunting successes.
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The rehabilitation programme gives these cheetahs the opportunity to hone their hunting skills and become self-sustaining in a protected area. Orphaned at an early age, most of these cats have missed out on all that they should have learnt from their mother while growing up – not only hunting skills and techniques but the essential ‘life-skills” needed to survive in the wild. These cheetahs can now only learn these “life skills” by way of experience; lessons often being hard and unfortunately, sometimes fatal.
If not for the vision of Wayne and the Hanssen siblings and a team of supporters behind them every step of the way - this day would never have happened!!! As a young boy - Wayne always had a dream of an animal sanctuary - where no animal will be harmed - a dream where cattle farming will make way for a private Nature Reserve where we can give predators a chance to do what they do best - without being punished for doing just that - hunting!
It has taken nearly a lifetime of careful planning; - presenting a story to keen potential sponsors about the need for more land to be able to give captive cats a chance in the wild in a 'natural environment' to hone in those skills and instincts they have, through trial and error - without being prosecuted!
The final 16 000ha park fence (75km) has cost Okonjima and AfriCat and a group of supportive sponsors, over N$6million to complete. This fence will allow these cats to take the time they need to become completely independent hunters - in a protected area right in the middle of commercial farmland!
OKONJIMA & AFRICAT. A symbiosis @ work:
Okonjima is responsible for the maintenance of the roads, the fences, the fire-breaks, river-crossings, and the buildings on Okonjima farm, as well as the up-keep of the airstrip where the AfriCat plane takes off on a regular basis to collect and rescue a cat hundreds of kilometers from the foundation. The AfriCat plane is also used to tack the rehabilitated cheetahs that roam in the furthest most corners of the reserve on a weekly basis.
Okonjima is responsible for the acquisition of all new farmland and game introductions, and also supplies the reserve with water points and bore-holes, as well as the payment of all government land taxes.
Okonjima supplied the entire property with the national power grid and all standby generators.
Okonjima is responsible for the payment of 95% of all staff salaries and 95% of AfriCat’s advertising.
Okonjima is also responsible for the installations and maintenance of all communication systems on the property. (telephones, 2-way-radios, computers) and covers all security on the premises.
Okonjima supplies additional staff during ‘large projects’ and is responsible for the building and maintenance of all staff housing.
These points have been emphasised to create awareness of the result of a successful relationship between a profit-making organisation (Okonjima Lodge) and a not-for-profit foundation (AfriCat). Foundations depend on sponsorship to survive, and for that exact reason – often collapse, for funding runs out.
When an organisastion like Okonjima takes care of all the “nasties” such as salaries, admin costs, advertising etc, - the Foundation can then afford to concentrate on more serious issues such as conservation and the direction the project should take to make a long-term difference, instead of wasting valuable time and money, surviving running cost and inflation.
When a donor sponsors the Foundation, that sponsorship is directly used to improve the life of the cat, and not to buy insurance or pay for the broken fax machine.
Without tourism Okonjima’s support would not be possible and there would be no AfriCat – there would be no story like this to tell.
This message is important for every potential tourist to understand – for without the support of the travel trade, 95% of all ‘Non Government Organisations’ (NGO’S) all over Africa – would close down.
NOW THE DREAM HAS A NAME . . .
Our dream is to turn our 55 000 acre Nature Reserve that was once denuded farmland, back to its natural state, last seen 200 years ago.
This dream, however must be sustainable and a benefit to local communities for it to survive the tide of change in Africa!
This ongoing project headed by the Hanssen Family has removed the majority of internal fences; manages water resources and hides, has opened new bush roads and the removal of undesirable bush, is ongoing.
