Blogger: Katie Karstensen

Program: Windhoek, Namibia

After our time in Johannesburg and Soweto, we reluctantly left St. Paul’s Guesthouse and their lovely manager Sister Jackie to head to our next destination. In Bloemfontein, we stayed at Cherry Lane Bed and Breakfast, a cozy settlement in a rural area surrounded by fields full of horses, donkeys, and our favorite, zebras. The highlight of our stay was a visit to Zanchieta Cat Farm, a wild animal rescue facility. Since they’ve begun their mission, they have rescued 98 wild animals from hunting or breeding lists, animals in need of medical attention, or animals that would have otherwise gone to zoos. Zanchietas claims they are different from zoos as they feed their animals every day and give them wide and open ranging fields they can occupy. They told us their lions are a little “fluffier” than animals in the wild because they feed them a little extra as they are currently doing work in their pastures, plus lions bother you less when they have a full stomach.

When we went to see the lions, the animal handler warned us to stay back about a meter from the enclosure as the lions sometimes would try to pee on people if they were agitated or felt threatened. I was able to get close as they were opening the gate to let the lion enter its feeding station to snap the above picture. William Wallace, the lion, appeared far less threatening than he had been talked up. William Wallace’s partner, Princess (left), was rescued by Zanchieta’s and suffered from malnutrition. Other lions had begun to try and eat her as they didn’t think she would make it. The facility calls her princess because, “even though she’s looked better in the past, she’s still just as beautiful.”

— Katie