Goodbye CCF, Hello N/a'an Ku Se

Actually, I said goodbye to CCF on the 6th of April and I am writing this at my home in England. I think those who read this blog will already know the reason but just in case you don't here is why.

A while back Kate and I decided we wanted a future together beyond CCF and started to see what opportunities were out there for us. Both of us have fallen in love with Namibia and hoped to stay in the country. We knew it would be difficult finding somewhere for both of us especially in today's economic climate, but we persisted and hoped lady luck would help us out. And in February, she certainly did as we received the offer of a life time - a chance to manage a carnivore release project for N/a'an Ku Se Wildlife sanctuary. We accepted immediately and gave our three months notice at CCF.

N/a'an Ku Se (San Bushman for God will protect us/watches over us) is based near Windhoek and is a relatively young organisation that was formed in 2007 by Rudie and Marlice van Vuuren. As well as taking in orphaned and injured animals that can not be released back into the wild (Cheetah, Leopard, Baboon etc) the organisation runs a Carnivore Conservation Research project that aims to study wild carnivore populations, relocate problem animals to reduce human conflict and re-establish cheetah populations in areas where they are suffering low numbers.

http://www.naankuse.com/

The project Kate and I have been asked to manage will be based near the town of Solitaire in the south of Namibia. The initial aim of the project is to study the existing carnivore population and to re-introduce cheetahs into the area and track them via satellite and radio collars and collect data on their movements. To say Kate and I are excited about this would be an understatement. We will be in our favourite part of the country (see pics below for why) and if you could have asked us what our perfect job would be when we started our search this would have been it!

Kate is currently at N/a'an Ku Se and I will end my holiday here and join her on the 3oth of May. We will then make the move down to Solitaire mid June :)

We were at CCF for two and a half years and had some incredible times and met some amazing people. Sadly our final weeks didn't end on a happy note as we saw the death of Cazigar, one of CCF's livestock guarding dogs, and Chewbacca who lost his fight against the injuries he sustained in his fight with a rabid Kudu. Chewbacca had been CCF's ambassador cheetah for 15 years and had a very gentle nature that allowed hundreds of people over the years to meet him and have their photo taken, which i find a bit ironic as he was probably the goofiest looking cheetah I've ever seen! Over the past two years Kate and I fed him his daily meal of chopped up meat complete with quite a concoction of pills and vitamins almost every day and we were very sad seeing the old man go.

This, added to the series of unbelievable events I mentioned in my last blog meant that my last few days were rather sombre. Although I did have one final rave up at Boskop with Carolyn on my last night :) Saying goodbye to the cats was hard, especially my beautiful Xena but the biggist part of CCF I will miss without a doubt will be Boskop and my fellow boskopians, especially the dogs! I considered it my home and it was a haven we could relax in after a crazily busy day (of which there were many!).

I really can't wait to get back to Kate and start this new chapter in my African Adventure but I've still got a couple more weeks to enjoy at home with my family which will include my 30th birthday.......bloody hell, typing that gave me a shiver! THIRTY, how did that happen???!! :-/

And in case you're wondering, don't panic, I will be continuing the blog! :)

I'll end this entry by sharing with you one of my last contributions to  CCF - Its a video I put together about Chanel and the Chocs first two weeks in Erindi for CCF's YouTube channel. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7FRfO2_oRY