African Safari 3D

So I know I'm almost a week late on my week 4 update, but last week internet here wasn't working so well and I finally have found time to update everyone on what has been going on. Last week a large film crew was here to get shots of our cheetahs for a full length feature film they are working on called African Safari 3D. From what I understand, the film is about kind of a mix between a documentary and normal film in which the two "actors" lead the audience on a safari through Africa from the southern portion of Namibia to Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya. It's being filmed in 3D and is set to be released sometime in June or July of 2012. All last week we were all extremely busy getting the film crew the shots they needed plus taking care of the normal day to day activities of CCF.

The reason this film crew came to CCF was mainly to get footage of cheetahs running, so we did our best to provide good opportunities for a usable shot. They came in and filmed at our normal cheetah runs, but we also allowed them to come along for feeding. For some of our cats, we run them behind our feeding truck before they are fed in order to exercise them, so rather than use our own truck we fed out of one of theirs that had a camera and a stabilizer with it. I unfortunately didn't get to come along for this but I saw it from a distance and it looked really neat. Here is a picture of the crew and the truck with the camera with our lead cheetah keeper.

Juliette, our lead keeper, is near the middle of the image with the brown hat

In the film there are two "actors" who are more of guides than actors. One of these people is Kevin Richardson who is a lion and hyena enthusiast who has a center in South Africa. Kevin is well known in the wildlife world, especially when dealing with lions and I got to spend a good amount of time talking with him. We had an 1 1/2 hour conversation about what it is he has been doing and his outlook on conservation and issues surrounding the lion. He is often criticized for the way he works, but after talking with him I know he is in it for good reasons and has a very good outlook on conservation and the issues surrounding the animals he is passionate about and caring for them in captivity. I really enjoyed spending time with him and Mara, the "actress," during the time they were here.

That was pretty much the most exciting part of last week. Again, I know this update is late but when you are in the middle of Africa 45 minutes from the closest civilization, internet is not always the best. I will post the update for this week in a few days. As always, I'm happy to answer any questions and I welcome any comments. Until next time....

- Eli