Cheetah's Rock 🐆

Contrary to what many would assume initially, this is not about animal cruelty or a petting zoo for wild animals - but rather an animal rescue center. It is led by Jenny, who is wholeheartedly dedicated to the protection of animals that end up in her care.

Jenny is originally from Germany, but has been living on Zanzibar for quite some time now, taking care of sick and injured animals.

She does this with incredible respect and you can immediately see how competent and lovingly she dedicates herself to her project, or rather her life mission. It is truly very, very impressive what she has already achieved!

In the pictures, you can see Tyson. Tyson was an especially friendly cheetah and loyal to Jenny. She called him by name, and within a few seconds the majestic animal rushed towards us visitors and circled around us. He threw himself in front of Jenny on the ground, she gave him a treat and stroked him while he purred like a little house cat - just a bit louder. It was incredible.

She emphasized that we were allowed to pet him and take pictures with him gradually, if he was in the mood for it. Luckily, he was, as you can see in the two pictures. I looked into the cheetah's beautiful eyes and started to pet him as if it was the most normal thing in the world for him. He came closer to me and licked my face. That was one of the most beautiful, unforgettable moments of my life!

By the way, he didn't feel as soft as he looked. His fur was quite stiff and a bit bristly, completely different from what I had expected.

Of course, Tyson was rewarded with treats by Jenny whenever he allowed us visitors to pet and take pictures with him. It was really amazing!

Tyson was not the only wild cat that was introduced to us.

The little tiger cub in the picture had just arrived at Cheetah's Rock at that time, in June 2017. Its mother had died shortly before. Jenny's colleague told us, tears in her eyes, the story of the tiger mother and asked us not to mention it to Jenny when she came to us with the baby, because she was still struggling with it. The concern was moving and we increasingly realized how important the task of all Cheetah's Rock employees actually was.

When the little baby arrived, we were all amazed. Jenny had put a (loose!) chain around it, as the little one was still relatively new and they were not sure how it would react to humans.

Well, it didn't react at all. It was so focused on its bottle that it didn't seem to notice any of us at all. Not looking stressed in the slightest! 😅

By the way, the little tiger cub was also not soft, but like Tyson, it was relatively bristly. But it looked very cute, whether it was soft or not.

Unfortunately, you can't see much in the picture. If you could see something, you could see a white lion here.

The lion also came to Jenny as a baby. Back then, you could still cuddle and play with him, but by now the lion was an adult and not only impressively huge, but also dangerous. At least too dangerous to cuddle. But not to feed!

Jenny handed out a little bit of meat to each of us. Then they lured the lion to the fence by triggering its hunting instinct: one of the staff members ran back and forth in front of the enclosure, until suddenly the huge predator came running. And how!! I think every one of us held our breath in that moment and was glad that there was a fence between us and the animal.

We took turns feeding him. When I looked into his mouth, my heart skipped a beat. Oh my, what huge teeth...

By the way, there is a video of the feeding, both from me and from Jannik. Only stupid me kept my finger in front of the camera the whole time and ruined Jannik's video. If I were him, I would probably have gone crazy. Fortunately, he has a lot of patience with me and my clumsiness now.

The first animal that was introduced to us was neither Tyson, nor the little tiger or the lion, but this zebra.

In the picture, you can see me petting it. It was not just any zebra - Jenny had trained it and played ball with it, for example, as if it was the most natural thing.

Zebras are black with white stripes, not the other way around, although I still find that strange.

Like Tyson, the zebra was loyal to Jenny and seemed to be happy to show what it was capable of. Of course, every trick was rewarded with treats as well.

You can also meet many other interesting and mostly cute animals there. Jenny has a story to tell about each of these animals and you will certainly learn a lot of things you didn't know before.

We fed hyenas with apples and were jumped on by hungry lemurs, let monkeys steal food from our shoes and looked at white peacocks. We also saw a dik-dik for the first time in our lives. They are so cute! You can see the little, shy creature in the third picture from the top.

All in all, it was a very successful, great, and educational trip that was worth every cent.

We paid about €140 per person. That may sound like a lot at first, but if you consider that the existence of this dedicated animal assistance station depends on this money, and if you see how much Jenny and her employees have made of it, it doesn't really hurt to give them the money. Believe me, you can feel that you have invested it well there and that almost every cent is intended for the animals.

If you love animals, I would definitely recommend this trip to you. We are glad that we went there!