When I snapped the photo of this cheetah, I was sitting on the sand, about three metres away from him.  He and his two brothers had just finished chasing a troop of baboons, and our group of six travellers, ranger and guide were quietly watching them.

Then the man behind me made a noise. The cheetah’s head snapped up, his eyes flew open and my heart started pounding. The cute kitty had turned back into a predator in instant.

We were tracking cheetah on foot at the Okonjima reserve in Namibia, as part of the Africat Foundation’s initiative to rehabilitate injured and orphaned cheetah and leopard.

Read more about the experience in my article for Montecristo Magazine, The Africat Foundation.

I’ve got lots more writing about Namibia and about safaris.

And if responsible tourism is important to you (and how could it not be?!), you’ll find more writing about how to protect the cultures, economies and environments of the destinations you should visit on the responsible tourism page.