Vacation... a time to relax, get some sun, and enjoy the landscape.  Well, that is a normal vacation.  My vacation was a time to work... pay for it, and come back feeling that I was the smartest human being on the planet.

Having visited Namibia as a tourist, I realized how much I wanted to go back and be a more integral part of that country.

With this in mind, and the fact that I hadn't seen any cheetahs during my previous trips to Namibia and Botswana, I decided to sign up for one of the EarthWatch Expedition Teams, which offered the two things I was aching for: Namibia and cheetahs.

The Mission: Volunteer for two weeks at the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in Namibia.

The CCF is headed by Laurie Marker.  I had seen Laurie quite a few times on TV and during a lecture in New York.  The thought of working with her was such a thrill!  By volunteering at CCF, I would contribute --in a small way, to their efforts to ensure that cheetahs and people can live together.

With just about 12,000 cheetahs left in the wild today, much has to be done to achieve this.  Certainly the CCF can use the help with all the work they do on education, research, and the endless task of caring for cheetahs in rehab.

My work with CCF lasted two weeks... the memories will stay with me forever.

Click on the links on the left or below to find out what it was like to work with cheetahs, and to meet the coolest team of people and the beautiful cats they are trying to save.