CPA, MD + 3: Welcome to My World: South Africa: Day 2

Today was the day we were supposed to go out on a boat excursion to see great white sharks. However, the weather off the coast has caused some very high swells and the boat company cancelled all the excursions for the day. James was very disappointed - to the point of tears. Hopefully we will be able to fit in an excursion tomorrow that he will approve of.

We spent this morning touring Cheetah Outreach and learning about how they use the cheetahs they have in captivity to raise awareness about the plight of the species and campaign for its survival. They also breed Anatolian Shepherd dogs and place them on farms in South Africa to guard livestock in an effort to reduce the conflict between farmers and predators like the cheetah. Cheetahs are non confrontational and will run away when they hear a dog bark. The Anatolian Shepherds are a naturally protective breed and are raised to protect the livestock of the farmers who adopt them. In return for receiving a dog free of charge, the farmers sign a contract that they will not shoot or trap a cheetah. The highlight of the morning was getting to pet two of the cheetahs that live at the Outreach center. Madeleine was in heaven!

After visiting Cheetah Outreach we traveled a short distance to experience a wine tasting at one of the many vineyards in the valley at the base of the Stellenbosch mountains. The grounds were beautiful and the view down into the valley was very scenic. The kids enjoyed running around and exploring with Laura, our guide, while Brannon and I tasted wine from Ernie Els' grapes.

We spent the afternoon at the Spier Eagle Encounters bird of prey conservatory. There we walked through an open area type zoo of birds and a few other animals such as snakes, spiders, lizards, turtles and a porcupine. We got to experience holding an owl and having a falcon swoop down and grab food out of our hand.