Same sky, different horizons

Tuesday 13th September

Central Business District, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province

"We all live under the same sky, but each sees a different horizon."

Cheetah, Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre

So reads the introduction to the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre.

Cheetah, once having five species spread over four continents, are down to one species located in a few pockets of Africa.  As they prey on the livestock of pastoral farmers, they are routinely shot and their numbers have dwindled to a critical level.

Ann van Dyk grew up on a chicken farm in De Wildt, where she developed an interest in feeding the various wild cats that passed by.  Hearing of the chance to adopt three cheetah cubs in the 1970s, she decided to create a space for them on the farm and try to breed them.  Since then, she has established one of the largest cheetah breeding programmes and has released over 800 cheetah into the wild.

Perhaps more importantly, she has set up a programme to help the local population see a different horizon and conserve rather than kill the cheetah.

Lily exercising

A few cheetah which have had to be hand-reared (for medical or other reasons) and so cannot be released to the wild become her "ambassadors" - visiting schools, communities and farms to educate and develop a love for these animals.

It was three of these ambassador cheetah that we met early in the morning as they exercised by chasing a lure - rather like the rabbit a greyhound might chase at a racecourse.

First up was Lily, a fairly young cheetah who can easily reach a speed of 120 km/h.  Then comes Jules, a "king" cheetah bearing a striped rather than spotted pattern caused by a genetic mutation.  King cheetah are not bred because they do not stand a high chance of survival in the wild.  Lastly comes Harris, an ageing cheetah recovering from surgery.  He is less ken to run, and has worked out that if he sits still, the lure will come full circle back to him.

The cheetah purrs away like a regular house cat

After this, we tour the farm, which is currently home to 112 cheetah, many of which will be released into Pilanesberg from where we have come.  The centre also breeds wild dogs - there are currently over 80 here out of a total population of just 300 in all of South Africa.

Refuge is also offered to animals which cannot live a natural life in the wild - vultures injured on power lines, troublesome honey badgers, rescued cerval and caracal.

At 86, Ann van Dyk is still very much involved in the conservation work.  The whole centre - and the survival of the cheetah as a whole - are a testament to what one woman can achieve.

From the centre, after a hair-raising drive across Johannesburg's central highway, we arrived at the Apartheid Museum to relive a portion of this country's horrific recent past.

Apartheid Museum

At the outset, we are allocated a racial group - I am white, Amanda non-white - and we are forced to use separate entrances and amenities based on this arbitrary classification.  Although only in the context of a museum, this feels degrading and unjust - a fitting introduction to such a topic.

The museum charts the arrival of the first European settlers, the Great Trek, the Anglo-Boer War, the Union of South Africa, the rise of the National Party, the legislative creation of Apartheid, the protests, the detention without trial, the bannings, the overseas pressure, the release of Mandela, the dawning of democracy and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Parts of the story are harrowing - the footage of 'necklacing' where impimpis (informers) had a tyre filled with petrol placed over their head and set alight, the replica security police detention cells, the 115 nooses hanging from the ceiling representing those political convicts sentenced to death.

Yet the story is also one of hope.  For all of its problems - and they are legion - South Africa has achieved the unachievable.  And it is a story that, however hard, must be told.  Every child must learn of the hatred of the past so they can prevent it happening tomorrow.

The whole experience concludes in a sanctuary garden.  The sign reads:

"Take some time to walk in the garden.

Think about all that has gone before

and all that is yet to come.

Then walk away free."

From cheetah to race relations, education is transforming this wonderful country.