The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) is a nonprofit organization run by American Dr. Laurie Marker, who is the winner of the 2009 Life Achievement Award for Conservation from the Zoological Society of San Diego, California. CCF Research and Education Centre have one of the largest concentrations of cheetah in Africa. Since 1990, when the project began, CCF has focused on cheetah conservation, working with commercial farmers, whose land is also home to the world's largest free roaming cheetah population (numbering around 3,000 total cheetahs). The same land is shared with the farmers and their livestock. In 2000, CCF opened its doors to the public with a visitors centre and education centre. The Cheetah Conservation Fund strives to secure cheetah habitats to ensure a future for the animal through integrated programs of conservation, research, and education.
Over the years, the Cheetah Conservation Fund has adopted injured and orphaned cheetahs taking them in as their own, assessing their health, and bringing them back to healthy conditions when needed. All with the final goal of releasing the animals back into the wild after extensive rearing or rehabilitation. According to the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism, an estimated five-hundred cheetahs are poached annually. CCF has become a model to other cheetah conservation programs throughout the world, including the countries of Kenya, Algeria, and Iran.
The Cheetah Conservation Fund is eco-friendly promoting the selling of Cheetah Country Beef which yield premium prices for Namibian beef farmed using predator friendly methods. CCF is also more than welcoming to eco-tourists willing to provide short-term volunteer services including the feeding of cheetahs, assisting with tagging and monitoring of cheetah populations, and helping raise the Anatolian Shepards given to farmers as livestock guard dogs. CCF also conducts day tours including guided walks through the education centre and museum. Visitors can also participate in the Cheetah Feeding Tour the Cheetah Run, which is amazing, and the Cheetah Safari through CCF's large cheetah camp. Tours require pre-booking. CCF is an incredible, one-of-a-kind experience, full of knowledge and excitement.
Located 44km north from Otjiwarongo off the B1 and on the D2440 gravel road, look for the brown signs and integrate it easily into a self-drive Namibia safari.