On Monday March 30, 2015 we pet a cheetah. Actually, we pet a cheetah, played with a serval, and got to watch some caracals and African wildcats in action. It was awesome.

We went to Empeneni Cat Rehab Center based on a recommendation from Pieter, our host on the shores of Lake Sibaya. The center is also at a hotel, and only has cats that cannot be released into the wild. The reasons vary from injuries that didn’t heal correctly, to domestication by people that had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Empeneni also concentrates on breeding these cats in order to restore populations that are now considered to either be threatened or endangered.

Playful Little Serval

We played with the servals first. They had been raised at Empeneni after being found, abandoned by their mother, in a nearby pineapple field. The thought behind the abandonment is that, with deforestation and the creation of these pineapple fields, their habitat and hunting grounds are being encroached upon. The mom, quite simply, couldn’t feed her babies so she left them so she could at least feed herself. The servals were super playful and adorable. Zee, our ranger, tied a piece of string high upon a tree and one of the cats jumped up, untied it, and walked away with it in her mouth. Another played fetch. So cute.

African Wildcat licking his chops (or just expressing his thoughts of us)

The African wildcats were next. They look really similar to a normal housecat except for a few distinct characteristics. Their ears are orange, they have dark black stripes on their tail and legs, and their feet are black. Evidently it’s a huge problem trying to preserve the species because they keep mating with feral house cats. We weren’t even allowed to pet these guys; they’re that untamed. Zee just threw them some raw chicken, bone and all because, unlike house cats, they can process it. They devoured the meat instantly.

The caracals were also too vicious to pet but we did get to see an amazing display of their jumping capabilities. One jumped at least twelve feet off the ground to grab the meat off a stick, upside down, and managed to land back on its feet. Incredible.

Finally we came to the cheetahs. They were lazy, like a regular house cat, except they were massive. Nick and I went back for more pets, and I guess Mr. Cheetah got a bit tired of the attention because he took a swipe at me. He missed, and I still got more pets in, but that was definitely a little more intimidating than when Camo does it. We did make him purr though, which was really cool.

Empeneni also had a baby cheetah, just three months old. Zee played some ball with him first, just to tire him out. It was pretty funny watching a human sprinting after a cheetah, even if he was pint sized. Nicholas and I were the only ones to pet this little guy; he didn’t want to hold still very long and the rest of the people in our group were lame.

It was a really incredible experience, though, and my inner crazy cat lady was singing the whole time. That was definitely one of my highlights of the trip.