The government of Namibia had refused to place the cheetah on the endangered species list although there were few left in the wild.  Meat eaters, the cheetahs are often the targets of farmers who fear the loss of their goats and sheep so shooting them had greatly reduced their numbers. One farmer had set aide a large portion of his farm as a safe haven for cheetahs.  He struggled financially to find the six pounds of fresh meat each of his 20-30 cheetahs needed to survive daily.  The Namibian government allowed him to keep the cheetahs but did not allow him to breed them nor did they offer any assistance.  The males were kept in a 20-30 acre open compound while the females in another.  Donna-Rae and Greg bought enough fresh meat for one cheetah each, then rode in the back of a pick-up truck through the compounds while the cheetahs followed what they knew was their daily meat wagon.  The intensity of the yellow/black cat eyes left no doubt about what would happen if a hand did not release the meat soon enough as it was tossed outwards.  These were wild cheetahs, not the docile ones found in a zoo.  The snarling and fighting that took place when a flank of meat hit the ground showed why the big cats were no house pets.

    Donna-Rae, a cat lover, found this one “adorable.”  Greg, ever the pessimist and a dog lover, told her he did not think it would be so adorable if it had not been recently fed.  It had been house- raised from a kitten when found abandoned after a hunter shot the mother.  “In fact,” Greg added, “I don’t think that cat could swallow enough Valium to make me want to touch it.”  Just then the cheetah rolled over a snapped at Donna-Rae’s foot.  “Just playing,” the owner said.  “Yes, like a cat plays with a mouse,” she replied e, then carefully backed away.

     Safety was a constant concern as Donna-Rae and Greg traveled through Africa.  There were constant warnings about wandering away from the campfire at night where two or four-legged hunters lurked, some looking for money and valuables, others looking for a meal of meat on two legs.  During daylight hours danger was in the form of broken sections of road, errant drivers, and domestic animals like sheep, dogs and goats crossing in front of drivers. 

     Once an oncoming truck swerved into Greg’s lane to avoid hitting deep potholes in the truck’s lane, believing Greg would steer the motorcycle off the road and into the ditch rather than take the truck head-on.  At 70-mph Greg frantically tried to slow the motorcycle while weighing his options.  He immediately ruled out the head-on alternative as the truck driver had guessed he would.  Quickly glancing at the ditch Greg sensed death written for Donna-Rae and he on the rocks, if not from the crash, then from their being hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital.  A nano-second decision was made for option three, that being to switch lanes with the oncoming truck and take the chance of missing the bombed-out broken macadam in the opposite lane. 

     Later in the day Greg made a comment about how he should not have given the one-fingered salute to the truck that tried to run them off the road.  Donna-Rae asked, “What truck?  When did that happen?”  Greg explained the situation and their luck, leaving Donna-Rae worried about the next truck.  One of the side effects from the medication Donna-Rae took for her Parkinson’s Disease was she often fell asleep on the back of the motorcycle while leaning up against Greg’s back.  While Greg was dodging the oncoming truck and refrigerator-sized potholes, Donna-Rae had been soundly sleeping on the back, nearly the sleep of the dead.  Greg shook his head and said, “I really ought to start taking the pills you’re taking, especially when I can not sleep at night from the stress of riding all day.”

                Village life found men sitting around a small fire smoking cigarettes and talking while the women herded the goats and cleaned up around the house as seen in this small tribal village.  Donna-Rae said she thought something was missing, about to embark on a discussion about the lazy men and hard working women.  Before she could Greg said, “Yeah, like a six-pack of beer and football on a TV.”