Cheetahs, Cameras, and Conservation: My Eight Days (Including My Birthday) at CCF

Growing up in the Sonoran Desert of Tucson, Arizona, I developed a strong attraction to wildlife and nature. For a long time, my dream was to become a wildlife veterinarian. While that is still a vision of mine, newfound skills led me to pursue a new dream – wildlife photography.

My sophomore year of high school, I took an introductory photography class for an art credit and, little did I know, this class would uncover my greatest passion and take me across the globe! Once I picked up a camera, I never put it down. With my newfound love for capturing wildlife and their behaviors through the lens, I also discovered my desire to work in wildlife conservation.

After I graduated high school, I decided to further my education with a wildlife & fisheries biology & management degree through the University of Wyoming. In my mind, this degree allows me to pursue the best of both worlds – continuing photography while conserving my wildlife subjects.

In my second week of college, I found myself at the university’s study abroad fair. I had only planned to look, as I wanted to travel back and stay in Tucson for my first summer. However, when I came across a Communication & Journalism class to the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, I knew it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

During the short eight days we were at CCF, our class got to experience day-to-day work and behind the scenes. I was lucky enough to spend my 19th birthday at CCF, so my day was all about helping the organization.

The adventure I embarked on never felt real until I made it to the CCF headquarters. After lengthy plane-rides and a quick stop in Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, I was photographing cheetahs enjoying their lunch only five feet from me!

But watching the cheetahs eat was only the beginning of my wonderful time at CCF.

On my special day, we started off with feeding two of the elderly cheetahs, Tigerlilly and Peter. Watching Justin and Lea, the cheetah keepers, take care of these cats really showed their special relationships with each one.

After they were fed, we assisted the keepers with feeding more cheetahs, Rocket, Nandi, Aurora, and Kweli, in one of the largest enclosures CCF has. Five of us were lucky enough to ride with Justin in the back of a truck to help exercise those cheetahs. When they finished running, each cheetah was rewarded with a large chunk of meat.

Later in the day, we were able to join some of the ecologists for game counts and saw dozens of wildlife species.

During the game counts, some of my fellow bird enthusiasts were trying to identify bird species and mark them down in our favorite bird-watching app. A few of us were lucky enough to see some pretty elusive animals, including the aardwolf, secretarybird and even a leopard!

My birthday was more special than I could ever imagine, and I got to share it with incredible people and do the things I love. My favorite memory from the day was when Ava gifted me her fun pair of fuzzy pink sunglasses!

Getting the opportunity to see how CCF manages their wildlife and how each species is thriving on the reserve was incredible. It allowed me to really visualize the content I had learned in classes this past year and gave me a tangible outlook into what a career in wildlife management could look like.

Each day I spent at CCF, the more I learned about the interconnections of wildlife, humans, communication and conservation. I now realize that without strong communication, the success of a conservation project can only go so far. This class, and my time at CCF, has shown me the side of conservation work that I feel many people ignore when they start their careers.

CCF has helped me grow as a future conservationist, a wildlife photographer, and as a person. New cultures, languages, traditions and landscapes have taught me to be grateful for the gift of traveling. I plan to intern at CCF in the future to further build my skills as a photographer and a student looking to pursue wildlife conservation as a career, and I cannot wait until I return!