The 2010 African Safari - presented by the NetChows Chow Calendar

I had a Farm in Africa

We hope you had some good rest – our tour will now start with a daytrip to a popular & very worthwhile tourist destination. On our way, we can discuss one of the reasons why it came about.

Aerial view of a section of the Vaal River

For large parts of it, ours is a dry continent, but there is a large river which supports much of the agriculture by way of irrigation, the Vaal River, age-old river of diamonds, gold and adventure. The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source in the Drakensberg mountains in Mpumalanga, east of Johannesburg, and flows southwest to its conjunction with the Orange River southwest of Kimberley in the Northern Cape. It is 1120km in length, and forms the border between Mpumalanga, Gauteng and North West Province on its north bank, and the Free State on its south.

The Vaal Dam is located on the Vaal River some 56km south of Johannesburg, close to Vereeniging. The catchment area of the dam is approximately 38 500 km² most of which is located in the Free State Province with the remainder in the North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces.
Vaal Dam forms the central storage reservoir for the Vaal River water supply system which supplies water to the industrial powerhouse of the whole country. The area supplied from the Vaal River System, generates more than 50% of South Africas gross geographical product (GGP), more than 80% of the country’s electricity and includes some of the largest gold, platinum and coal mines in the world. Vaal Dam is therefore of great importance to South Africa and a key component of the water supply infrastructure for Gauteng and the surrounding provinces.

There is much concern over agriculture in Southern Africa, which is heavily dependent on the Vaal & Orange rivers. The situation is currently such that 1 farmer 'feeds' 1500 people in the country. Lets oppose this, by way of example, to France, where 1 farmer 'feeds' 100 people. You can see that the situation is raising concerns about food production & cost of living.

With many odds against them, farmers traditionally have been hunting, trapping and even poisoning predators that occur naturally in their environment and which tend to catch their livestock. These are most often Lynx, Jackals, Cheetahs, Leopards & the African Wild Dog. This, in part, has led to the near extinction of the Cheetah and the African Wild Dog. There is a growing success story of the placement of our distant cousins – the Anatolian Shepherd dog – at such farms. And of course, the bringing back of the cheetah from the endangered species list is another great success story in Southern Africa.

The Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre (De Wildt Cheetah & Wildlife Sanctuary)

Ann van Dyk officially opened this centre on 16 April 1971. She received the gold medal award of the South African Nature Foundation for her contribution towards captive breeding of cheetah in 1988. The Centre has recently been renamed The Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre as a tribute to the woman who has dedicated her life to saving rare and endangered species. (GPS co-ordinates: S 025 40 25.1, E 027 55 25.4)

African Wild Dogs taking a break.

The centre, located north of Pretoria, first achieved international recognition for bringing the cheetah back from the brink of extinction - it was largely due to the centre that the cheetah was removed from the endangered species list of the South African Red Data Book for Terrestrial Mammals in 1986. Its success can be seen from the fact that, since its inception, over 600 cheetah cubs have been born at the centre, which is a dramatic increase from the period when the total cheetah population of South Africa was estimated at only 700.

They are also the first breeders of the rare king cheetah. It was proved that the king cheetah was not a separate species but genetically identical to the true cheetah, but only with a variation of coat pattern and colouring. Their pelts were prized by African Chiefs to adorn their palaces & seats of throne, thus – The King Cheetah.

Subsequent to its cheetah breeding programme, the centre also established successful breeding programmes for several other rare and endangered species, including the African Wild Dog, the Brown Hyena, the Suni Deer, the Duiker, the Cape Vulture and the Riverine Rabbit. They are now breeding,  raising and placing Anatolian Shepherd dogs specifically for the use of prevention of stockloss on farms due to predators. These large dogs are raised with flocks & live with the flocks in order to be so highly successful. This requires a very special procedure from birth, involving less human interference than those Shepherds destined to be pets only.

Possibly our distant cousins, the African Wild Dogs hold special interest to dog lovers world wide, as they are one of very few species of truly wild dogs. Here in captivity, their lifespan is about 10+ years, but in the wild - according to the vets who take care of these dogs both in captivity & those in their natural environment - they only survive to be at the most 4-6 years of age. This makes us happy that our humans take us to vets!

Taking their noble goals very seriously, this Centre deserves all our support & is a must see for tourists to Southern Africa.

Chow Chows being Therapy Dogs

Therapy Chow Chows

Of course, us Chow Chows, like the Anatolian Shepherds, also make great contributions to our immediate environment. For instance, here in Southern Africa we have a number of Therapy Chow Chows, who visit the elderly & terminally ill to provide them with the healing power of our unselfish love. There are cousins here in Johannesburg that do this work, and just recently, we heard of the loss of Zena, our cousin in Cape Town, who also pursued such noble goals.

Share their stories as it appears on the Chow Chow Africa website. Visit their pages here...

As it is still hot & wet in our part of the world, we are off for a swim in ‘The Vaal’ – (meaning, the murky – for it’s water is never clear, always murky). We don’t mind of course, it’s close enough to our favourite mud bath! Care to join us?

Joel & Nurya

PS - With many thanks to Google Earth, you too, can join our virtual tour without leaving your armchair!