Student - June 7, 2012
Among the cheetahs in Namibia
Who? Marieke Reijneker, fourth-year student of Animal Management
What? Various projects for the Cheetah Conservation Fund
Where? Otjiwarongo, Namibia

As well as that, eight cheetahs were fed every afternoon in front of the tourists, while I gave a short talk about the animals. I also went out into the wild to follow released cheetahs using radio tracking that picks up a signal from the GPS transmitter on their collars. So my days were very varied. I really gained experience of every aspect of conservation. By African standards, Namibia is highly developed, and in some ways it could be described as a western country. People here are incredibly open and friendly. Namibia is also extremely strict about nature conservation. Nature reserves are very well protected. Local farmers set up join 'conservancies', or protected nature areas. The get funding for these from the government and they also earn something from tourism. And this policy is good for the protection of wild animals too. Many countries could learn from it.'