Cheetah Stroll at Wildlife Safari

As a gift, F made reservations for us to go to Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon (Southern Oregon – not far from Umpqua Valley wine country) to take part in one of their animal experiences, a Cheetah Stroll. After our visit, we then went on various winery visits. I wanted to share this activity as something to do besides or as for us, on addition to winery visits in the area.

The description on the site explains that the Cheetah Stroll animal encounter is the following:

Take a stroll with one of our cheetah ambassadors. These strolls are the closest you will get to these magnificent cats inside the park. They will come within 5 to 6 feet of the animal, close enough to hear them purr and marvel at their lean athletic bodies. The keepers will share their knowledge of these cats during the stroll. This adventure includes one 8 x 10 photo with the cheetah for you to take home.

Price $80 per person (Pech note: sometimes there are Groupons or Living Social Deals – we used one ourselves)

Minimum Age Requirement: 13 years

We made our reservations for our walk to be early in the day – in fact the first walk of the day. This is because we have found that generally animals are active early on when everyone first comes in because it’s a bunch of activity (also not as hot so more likely to not be napping in shade), and then the only other times you can count on are when they get fed and for many animals, at night (many are nocturnal).

The two trainers had our cheetah friend Cayenne on a leash, with each person holding a leash.

Then, F and I walked behind them a few yards. As we walked, a trainer would sometimes plop a small piece of meat in front of the ambassador cheetah to reward him for his good behavior and probably keep him walking since he wanted to flop down and relax even though it was 9 am.

Then, every time he found the piece of meat, he got into this low crouch like this… so it was often a constant up and down because of how he wanted to lie down flat and eat instead of stand and eat.

He also would often stop and stare out into the woods, listening – probably for deer the trainers explained, and there was even one time we saw a deer about 30 feet away.

Pretty much all of us got into the habit of everytime he stopped to stare, we would be staring too, to see if we could spot if he was looking at another deer, or bird, or what… What! What’s out there!?

Our walk occurred along a trail in the woods and because it was early, it was very quiet and peaceful. We just heard the wind through the trees and our cheetah purring, if the trainers were not giving us information (most of the information came early on, and then based on questions we had, they are very knowledgeable). We loved watching him walk as he is very slinky (if you have a cat, you know exactly what this is like – F kept comparing him with his/our own cat Lobo) and the cheetah’s tail was constantly twitching back and forth with curiosity.

One of the fun things we learned is how he and his sister are very close, and how when they call to each other they sound like chirps!

In fact, here’s a video of the brother and sister waiting to be reunited- and one of the trainers explaining how they get anxious and jealous when one gets to go out, but how they always take turns (in the video, the ambassador cheetah brother is the one waiting for his sister’s return).

Recently the Wildlife Safari got a friend for a cheetah cub they have (the cheetah’s name is Pancake…) – a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy named Dayo. So if you and your kids (or just you, no kids) want to see real life unlikely animal friends, consider visiting Wildlife Safari soon to catch the latest ambassador duo in their cubhood/puppyhood. You can find out more about this couple and the very successful cheetah breeding program at Wildlife Safari that they have had since the 1970s at their Web page on cheetahs.

Other photos of some  animal friends at Wildlife Safari Village, which is FREE to visit. The fees are for the animal encounter experiences they offer (for instance feeding giraffes or bathing an elephant) or their main experience, the drive thru Safari (drive in your own car, can drive through twice, there is an area to kennel your dogs as no pets allowed) and the feeding areas (available in the village or an area on the Safari drive).

To finish off this Travel Tuesday post, I’ll show you the other sights we saw on our trip back from Winston up to Roseburg, which is where we were staying for the night in this Umpqua Valley region. As a side note, I love the reds from this area – our visits included Becker Vineyards, Abacela Vineyards and Winery, Girardet Vineyards & Winery, Hillcrest Vineyard, TeSóAria Vineyard & Winery, Glaser Estate Winery and Distillery and Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards. You can grab an Umpqua Valley wine tour map (or print one out here) to map your path, and if you visit 5 and get stamped, you can wine a little gift and entry to win a prize!

If you don’t have any plans for Memorial Day weekend this weekend, this holiday is always a great time to visit the wineries as many are doing special events in their tasting room (including more food and perhaps live music) and open houses.

Have you ever visited the Umpqua Valley area that includes Winston and Roseburg? Have you heard of Wildlife Safari and their cheetah ambassador program, or about Pancake? What are your plans for Memorial Day Weekend?