Maimed by a Cheetah

OK – so they don’t lie when they say South Africa is NOT for sissies!! We headed out to the Cheetah Park for the day. The tour was all good and dandy until the end of the day when you can “pay extra” to pet the cheetahs and boy did I get my “extra” for my pay as when I went to pet the cheetah, it decided to pet me instead!!

Can you believe it?

You really shouldn’t. I just felt that all of you back home were used to the near-death experiences as opposed to the classic me injuring myself that I didn’t have the heart to tell you that I actually just minorly injured myself. For all those that do not know me, injuries are an important part of my life. In fact they make me who I am today – a 30 year old walking, arthritic, tendonitised, ligament torn mess. I suppose you could say I am a 30 year old with the body of a 60 year old, but it’s all good though because I feel 16!!

I am not sure if you can relate at all, but I manage to injure myself more getting onto and off of my bike or getting it into or out of my car than I do actually riding my blasted bike. I actually maimed my arm (ok scraped) on the pedal crank while loading my bike into the car. I like to tell people that I was attacked by a cheetah though. I mean really, how often do you get a wound that would actually let you pull off a story like that?

Vic, this one’s for you – thanks for laughing at me. It was actually his suggestion that I go into a long detailed story about getting mauled by the cheetah, but that’s all I could manage. Didn’t want to give them too bad a wrap as they are really stunning creatures.

Just back to the Cheetah Park for a minute though. It truly is a place worth visiting if you’re in the area. (http://www.dewildt.org.za/wcpbackground.htm). Their mission statement that I took from the website is, “To ensure the long term survival of the wild cheetah and its ecosystems through the implementation of a National Management Plan by means of integrated conservation programs, research and education.” That picture is an actual one I took, but from a safe enough distance. We did get to pet them and they truly are amazing creatures. My favourite in fact – the fastest land animals alive!!

INCLUDING the ones with arthritis and tendonitis I imagine!!