Cheetahs at Okonjima Game Reserve

Namibia is the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with deserts occupying much of the country. With a harsh climate of an average of 300 days of sunshine a year, it is perhaps surprising that wildlife flourishes. Look a little deeper and it's not as surprising as you might think. Namibia takes conservation seriously, protecting more than 40% of its land. It is the first African country to incorporate environmental protection into its constitution. Thanks to this the country holds the world’s largest population of free-roaming Cheetahs. This is good news considering these big cats are dangerously close to extinction, considered ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They have disappeared from roughly 90% of their historic range in Africa and only around 7,000 adults remain in the wild (as of 2020). Of this approximately 3,000 reside in Namibia.