Cheetah Conservation Fund

The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) was started in 1990 by the conservation biologist Dr Laurie Marker, and its headquarters is a working research centre about 44 km east of Otjiwarongo, roughly three hours’ drive north of Windhoek. It sits on a block of farms next to the Waterberg Plateau Park, with the plateau in view. This is the place to learn why cheetahs and Namibian farmers keep clashing, and what is being done about it.

What to expect

The basic visit is a one-hour guided walk past the resident cheetahs (animals that cannot go back to the wild), the museum, the model farm and the livestock guarding dogs. CCF breeds Anatolian Shepherd and Kangal dogs to guard goats and sheep, so farmers have less reason to shoot cheetahs. Feeding is included if you are there at the right time. The tour stays outside the enclosures, so the cats may be some way off.

To see them up close, book the Cheetah Drive through the larger enclosures, or the Cheetah Run, when the cheetahs chase a lure at full speed.

Practical details

• Visitor centre and museum open daily, 364 days a year.
• Cheetah feeding: 2pm Monday to Friday, 12pm on Saturday and Sunday.
• Cheetah Run: daily at 8am, 30 minutes, booked in advance.
• Cheetah Café: daily 8am to 5pm, with goat’s milk cheese, ice cream and fudge from the farm’s own creamery.
• Phone +264 67 306 225.
• The gift shop takes cards but not American Express.

Good to know

Staying over makes the 8am run easy. Cheetah View Lodge has five rooms (four suites and a family room), and its restaurant veranda looks over a waterhole. The Babson House sleeps up to six. Pilots can use CCF’s 2 km earth airstrip (FYHC) with advance notice.

Last updated 7 October 2026. Sources: Cheetah Conservation Fund, Cheetah Conservation Fund, Cheetah Conservation Fund (Cheetah Ecolodge), Cheetah Conservation Fund (Cheetah Ecolodge), Wikipedia, Wikivoyage.