Our most interesting side trip was to a rescue sanctuary for African cats.
Here we were introduced to the African Wildcat, not much larger than some of our domestic cats. This guy was real friendly and seemed particularly interested in my walker, rubbing his scent all over it.
I wonder what our Siamese will make of that when we get home.
Next we joined a Caracal in his pen. He was much less friendly, hissing at us and the handler a lot. We couldn’t get close to him.
Our third cat was a Serval. These guys are nearly 2′ tall at the shoulders and weigh up to 40 pounds.
Our guy was another cuddly dude and we got to pet him.
Last was the cheetahs. Another friendly pair that played with the handlers but we were not allowed to touch.
Much larger cats, up to 35″ at the shoulder and 160 lb, a bad reaction from them to a stranger touching them could be extremely dangerous, even fatal.
All in all, this was the most exciting day of our time in SA.
Traveling Jim 