Having rained overnight, many of the animlas were not looking their best. Oliver was a notable example, as he didn’t look too white anymore! The rain had stopped, and all the animals were up and about and playing in the cooler weather. And it was Panthera providing the most entertainment, jumping about, hanging off the roof and stalking anyone who walked nearby. While Shrek gracefully climbed onto a log and sat regally watching in the nearby enclosure, Panthera failed to match his class. Panthera leapt up on to the wood over a swing and hung from it upside down. He then began to lose control of the situation, with one paw, then another, losing grip. And so down he fell, landing awkwardly in the pool of water in the swing below.

Today Chanel got a tattoo. And it rocks. Not a spur-of-the-moment tattoo, or  a look-how-big-i-am tattoo, its a tattoo with real significance.

When Chanel was last at  Cheetah Experience she was entrusted with a baby caracal and a lion cub. These were to become her children. Like any first time mum, Chanel doted on her babies and they were the apple of her eye. She raised them with love, patience and discipline, and they have grown into magnificent animals. Today Amy the caracal is  just over a year old and Nonyx the white lion is just over a year and a half old, and both are much loved members of the Cheetah Experience family.

Chanel is very proud of these two, and after thinking about it for a long time, she decided to have them immortalised on her skin. Chanel already has tattoos so she knew what she was in for, but after an hour of having ink rapidly injected into the sensitive skin on her foot, she admitted it was a little more painful than she thought it would be!

Chanel had her tattoo done at Skinart in Bloemfontein by the gorgeous André. He was very patient and he did an amazing job, and Chanel was very impressed with the end result. Thank you André, i will definetly be coming to see you again!

Lani

Yesterday without knowing how they would react we gave the lion cubbies a watermelon to play with…. From the minute we stepped foot inside the enclosure with this strange, large green object there was some interest… Shani was the first lion to investigate this large green “ball” She rolled around with it, killed it, jumped on it!! No hesitation…. The others however were interested but cautious…. “What is it” you could almost hear them ask… Oliver tentitively patted it with his paw…. The others came over but soon lost interest… Michael the serval jumped on it, found it did nothing and went off to play in the grass tussocks instead…

Little Obi took full advantage of the fact that Shani had managed to open one end, and in her struggle with the mighty fruit she’d turned it round and was furiously trying to open the other end… Obi sat at the open end munching on the juicy fruit while Shani was distracted…

After 45 minutes Shani was exhausted!! While she lay panting, one paw slung over the watermelon Obi continued to chew, making some really funny faces…

Cheetah experience try to find lots of different ways to use enrichment to help improve the lives of the all the animals at the farm. Volunteers and staff make different toys, and use scents and interactions to induce different behaviours and reactions to try make each day different and intersting… A particular favourite here is bottles on a rope, Panthera our Black Leopard in particular LOVES to chase the bottles as do the caracals… While the lions love to play football with the boomer balls….