Western Cape - animals?
 

Hi folks,

I'd appreciate any tips to help me see some animals while I'm in the Western Cape this July.

Animals aren't my main focus here but I'm considering an excursion or 2 if there's something good. I'm interested in all the large mammals and especially the cats and predators. I also have a thing for hippos.

Two places I'm thinking about going to are the Cango Wildlife Ranch and Cheetahland in Oudtshoorn and/or the Botlierskop Game Farm near Mossel Bay. Are they worthwile?

Are there any other places (within 2 to 3 hours drive of Cape Town) where I can see animals? It needn't be a game park/safari - sanctuaries are fine. I'm travelling solo and I'm not rich so no super luxury options please!

After Cape Town I'll be getting down to the serious business; ie, doing safaris and visiting sanctuaries from Gauteng to Kwazulu-Natal. I'll post a separate message about this later.

Max,

You really are better off saving your (land) animal viewing for outside the Western Cape. Instead, why don't you consider staying someplace like this during your July visit:

http://www.grootbos.co.za/

By July, the whales will likely have just arrived and besides whale watching there are so many different activities to do at or near Grootbos such as cage diving with the great white sharks, horseback riding along the beach, 4x4 nature drives and walks, and more.

Roccco,

Yeh I know I should wait but I just thought if there's something there...

The whales look like a good option. Especially if I can see them from the shore.

Thanks.

I was all set to suggest Addo when I noticed the proviso of 2-3 hours from Cape Town - it's a fair bit further than that!!! We did enjoy the experience though.

We also visited Cango Wildlife Ranch - at the end of the day it is a zoo so you need to keep that in mind. We enjoyed our time there, even though I'm not usually into zoos, and we paid extra to pet the cheetahs, though you'll find others here who look down their noses at that! I found it fascinating to feel the texture of cheetah fur - not like I expected at all!

I haven't been to Botlierskop so can't comment on that.

You also have penguins at Boulders Beach which are fun to visit and some _limited wildlife_ in the Cape Point Nature Reserve.

Whilst Rocco is right that game viewing is better elsewhere in South Africa that doesn't mean it's not worth looking into for the Cape region if this is what you are most interested in.

That said the Cape has a whole host of attractions that are well worth seeing and will easily fill your time!

Kavey,

How old are the cheetahs you can pet at Cheetahland? How do they respond to humans? I remember a doco about the Africat sanctuary where the cheetah cubs were terrified of humans.

I might go to Cheetahland if I find myself in that part of the Cape.

Hi Kavey,

How far is it to the Cango Wildlife Ranch from Cape Town?

Thanks

I've been to that Cheetah farm in Oudtshoorn. But only because our afternoon trip got cancelled (whale watching...rough sea...).

It's fun to do, but not at all like a safari. More like a zoo, but with only big cats (they have quite some lions too). The animals are all on small pieces of fenced land (and I do mean SMALL), and you can watch them from a bridge that's build over the "cages". For some extra $ you can enter one of the cheetah's cages (with a supervisor), and caress the animals. Afterwards you get some kind of diploma. Sounds really silly, I know. But for everyone who hasn't even been close to animals like this, it's quite fun to do (the purr like cats, only louder). They breed cheetahs and put them back in the parks. So they're semi-wild. The ones you caress are as good as 100% domesticated.

We were sleeping in Mossel bay that day, and we visited Outshoorn town, the cheetah farm, an ostrich farm (had lunch there; ostrich steak, what else), the Cango caves and the Diaz museum all in one day. So it wasn't all that far. Alltough I don't remember how far it was from cape town.

Unfortunately, there's not that much "big" animals to see in CT neighborhood. Best things you can do:
- boulder beach (penguins)
- cape point nature reserve (klipdassies, babbons)
- CT botanical garden (lots of small birds)
- any boat trip to watch seals (there's rocky islands full of them) and whales.

As pixelpower indicates, these are not fully wild cheetah but a mix (I think) of ones bred in captivity and rescued as cubs from the wild. Given the cheetah's endangered status breeding centres are essential to maintain a good diversity of cheetah genes. The ones you get to pet are habituated to people.

As I said above, it's absolutely a zoo not a safari park or anything like seeing game in the wild but we enjoyed it more than we expected.

dmjapril, Cango Wildlife Ranch and Cheetahland is near Oudtshoorn, about 200km from Cape Town.

Good to hear 2 favourable reports.

Thanks for all your input.

Put it this way - I wouldn't alter my itinerary especially to take in the Cango Wildlife Ranch if I weren't already planning to go to Oudtshoorn but I would stop by if I were already visiting the town.

We liked Cango Caves too btw - an interesting geological site also in Oudtshoorn. You can either take the standard tour which we did or sign up for a rather scary adventure involving scurrying and sliding through some of the narrower tunnels - not for the fainthearted, claustrophobic or overweight!