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Spier

Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa

Spier is a huge winery complex that contains many activities and facilities on it's property. There is a nice lake where people go for picnics, a few large restaurants, a spa, a wildlife habitat and cheetah outreach program, an eagle enclosure, horse back riding, and more. Spier is really a huge complex that you could spend a whole day at if you wanted. They have a huge parking lot, and must be a big draw for tourists.

The Cheetah Encounter

Cheetahs in the wildlife habitat

The cheetah encounter at Spier is where they look after rescued cheetahs, or cheetahs that have been raised in captivity and are not able to hunt on their own. For a fee of 110 rand, visitors can enter the enclosure for a minute or two and pet a cheetah.

When it's your turn to enter, a ranger (that the cheetah is familiar with) will first enter the enclosure. He puts the cheetah on a leash, and then snuggled up close to him. We entered the enclosure in a group of 4 with another ranger after being instructed on the procedure. We approached the cheetah from the back, and then were able to stroke it's back side while another ranger took our pictures with our cameras. She was an experienced photographer from all these encounters, and had no problem operating our DSLR camera. The cheetah was very soft and gentle, and was purring while we pet it. We got to pet it for about 20 seconds, twice each. We then left the enclosure with our ranger. The money we paid goes towards cheetah conservation efforts.

Tour of the Wildlife Habitat

A free tour of the wildlife habitat is included in the nominal admission fee. The tour was about 30 minutes with one of the rangers. She told us about the different animals they had there, their feeding habits, and answered any questions we had. The tour took us through an area that we would not have been able to get to on our own, so we saw more animals that way.