My name is Annetjie, pronounced Annikki, and I’m from Namibia. Can you guess which part of the African continent Namibia is in? That’s right! Namibia is located in South West Africa. Namibia is a very big country, but only has 2.5 million people living in it. How many people live in your country? Although my country has a small population of people, we have the biggest population of cheetahs in the whole world – about 3,500 of them. This makes Namibia the cheetah capital of the world. I am very proud that our country has so many cheetahs, but it also makes me sad that there are not many left in the world. The world cheetah population is about 7,000.
When I was very young like you, my church and school would take us on field trips to learn about cheetahs at the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). The CCF Research and Education Center is located about 44 kilometers (27 miles) from my hometown of Otjiwarongo. By bus, it takes about an hour to get to CCF from my hometown. Getting there always seemed faster because all the other kids and I always had fun on the bus: singing, laughing and joking around. I saw a cheetah for the first time when I was 12 years old.
