Our Sponsors
KEMCLEAN Hygiene Solutions
Kemklean are a chemical company who supplies hygiene solutions primarily to the food processing, retail, animal health, human health, mining, hospitality and catering industries. The company have kindly agreed to sponsor Cheetah Experience with cleaning products to help clean the cheetah's night houses and platforms as well as the meat room.
Rotary Club Schwyz
Message from the sponsor:
For many years I have been connected to this very important Cheetah Experience project – to the many animals, staff, and of course to the founder and owner Riana.
At the time I became president of ROTARY CLUB SCHWYZ, there was an opportunity to involve the project in our Rotary foundation. In our club alone, we where able to collect around 25,000 euros, the approximate equivalent of R500,000 – a pretty large sum of money! This money goes to the Cheetah Experience solar project. Going green is one of the most important steps we have to take at the moment, albeit an extremely expensive one. As reorganising the farm to green energy is a massive financial undertaking, we where able to get a grant from Rotary Switzerland in 2023 for the full amount of 8,000 euros.
Riana and the entire project are overjoyed to use this funding towards the ongoing process of implementing green energy at Cheetah Experience.
Sandra
Novel PPE
Thank you to Neil from Novel PPE for kindly sponsoring some branded face masks that we can wear on our guided educational tours. They not only look professional but will help keep both us and our guests safe as we tour among the animals.
It is so nice to wear our new logo proudly on a product that we want to promote the value of.
We look forward to working with you more in the future. Thank you from all of us!
Aero Supplies INC
Thank you to Rick Skoryk from Aero Supplies Inc for the amazing donation of medical gloves and duct tape all the way from Canada.
Rick has shipped over boxes of supplies to help us out multiple occasions, which are always a huge help.
We use gloves on a daily basis to help with hygiene in the meat room as well as with general animal health, gloves are in short supply at the moment due to the pandemic, so the donation is very much appreciated.
Thank you from all of us!
Conquest Paper SA
Thank you to Conquest Paper SA for the continued support over the years.
Conquest Paper recently sponsored our new and updated volunteer manuals and induction paperwork. Both items are extremely important to the
training of new volunteers and an invaluable resource.
Thank you guys for always jumping in to help. We really do appreciate it!
Jojo
Today we want to say a huge Thank you to JoJo for sponsoring 3 huge water troughs for our animals. They very graciously not only donated the water troughs but also transported them directly to us, as you can see the animals are already enjoying them. Acinonyx was a bit confused at first but enjoyed a nice long drink once he realised it was not a toy.
Special thanks to Julien Smith for arranging the sponsorship and delivery.
Cat Box Pet Hyper
Cat Box Pet Hyper generously sponsored 4 cat carriers for us to help us move some of the smaller cats.
As well as helping with the relocation of the animals, it is also important for us to have crates on site in Bela Bela for all of the individual animals in case of evacuation due to veld fire.
Thank you so much to Cat Box Hyper for donating the carriers.
Pools for Africa
Our 8 year old Siberian Tiger Fushan came to us as a youngster due to a medical condition, where his hip joint has fused causing arthritis and pain.
Tigers love water. Fushan has a shallow pool in his enclosure in Bloemfontein and spends many many hours laying and relaxing in the water.
In Bela Bela we want to give him a pool that has therapeutic value, as we have been advised that as he ages his joint will possibly degrade. We contacted Pools for Africa to see if they could help us in any way and they were happy to sponsor an entire swimming pool for Fushan.
The pool will allow him to swim/float to a degree and help give some physiotherapy to his affected joint. The pool material would also make it easier for us to keep it clean. In Bloemfontein we struggle to empty the pond with buckets and pumps but it is time consuming.
Not only did Pools for Africa sponsor the pool, they also delivered it from Cape Town and offloaded it directly in Fushan's new enclosure.
We are super excited to see Fushan take his first steps in his special pool, and cannot wait to show you all also!
Pools for Africa, you have really made a difference to Fushan's life.
https://www.poolsforafrica.co.za/
Trailer Rent Bloemfontein
We recently contacted a number of trailer and van hire company's to see if there was any possibility of sponsorship for the transport of the animals and furniture from Bloemfontein to Bela Bela.Trailer Rent replied saying that they would indeed help us.
On September the 29th we were able to borrow two trailers to help us move the cheetahs to Bela Bela. It was such a huge help, we were able to transport all of the cheetahs in one day instead of making several journeys as we feared we may have to.
Thank you to Trailer Rent for this awesome sponsorship. We really appreciate the support!
Please visit https://www.trailarent.co.za for more information on the trailers and vans available for hire.
The Preece Family
The Preece family are Cheetah Experience’s biggest sponsor. They have undertaken a lifelong adoption of our cheetah Gabriel. They also funded part of Riana’s chemotherapy treatment.
They also donated the following to us after the brutal murder of Chris Preece, a keen conservationist and a man with a very good heart:
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A Fiat tractor
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An attaching weed cutter
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An automatic Isuzu bakkie
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A trailer
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4 bunk beds and ladders
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2 sleeper couches
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2 bedside lockers and headboard
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A cylinder vacuum cleaner
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Wooden pallets
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Feed bins
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A branch shredder
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A large solar cooker
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A solar heater
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A welding set
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Construction stand lights
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Drain rods
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A tri-truck trolley
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A high-pressure washer
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A precision drill stand
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Shade cloths
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Tubs of nails and screws
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A wooden chest
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Tins of paint
Simon Alexander
Cheetah Experience would like to say a very special thank you to the friends and family of Simon Alexander. Simon recently passed away and to honor his memory and his love and fascination for animals his family decided to invite his friends/family to donate to Cheetah Experience in Simon’s name.
Simon may have left this world in body, but his essence will continue to circulate the Earth. Simon’s family have decided that charitable acts of kindness would be the best way to keep his spirit alive and to honour who he really was.
Although Simon had never himself visited Cheetah Experience his lifelong friend Gemma Jordan had volunteered in 2013, on return to Australia Simon had asked about her time and experience and enjoyed looking through photos and hearing all the different stories.
The donations received went towards our new leopard enclosure for Shrek and Fiona, and as a way to honor Simon’s memory we named the new enclosure “Simon’s Sanctuary”.
Carina Staander
Carina Staander first became involved with Cheetah Experience in 2013, after popping by to see what had become of her family farm which was originally called Xeros.
Carina’s grandfather purchased the land where Cheetah Experience now stands in 1933. He was a dairy farmer and raised his children on the land. Carina’s father also farmed the family land and used to plant crops in the fields where the lion and cheetah camps are now. The curio shop was originally a milking parlour and later converted into a tractor and agricultural repair workshop.
Carina grew up on the farm, and spent a lot of time with her father hunting and working on the land. As she grew older her love of nature meant that she soon wanted to catch wildlife on camera rather than hunting. Her love of wildlife photography grew with particular interest in wild cats. After school Carina qualified as a photographer and wanted to follow her dreams of helping with conservation.
In 2004 the family farm was sold, Carina met her husband and they soon had a little boy, and her dreams were left behind, for a while..
In 2013, Carina was in the area and wanted to see what had become of the farm she grew up on and was overjoyed to see that it had become Cheetah Experience. She was so happy that her family farm had become something so close to her heart. The passion for conservation and wild cats was rekindled, and Carina tries to be as much a part of Cheetah Experience as time allows.
Since becoming involved with Cheetah Experience Carina and her family have adopted several of our special cats and love to come and visit them, they also donate straw for our animals bedding, as well as assisting in any fundraising ventures we have.
Kenneth von Rausch
Kenneth's story
Corporate employment has its moments – good and bad. But it doesn’t permit much opportunity to give – simply and without expectation of something in return.
It was June 2008 and my girlfriend, Joanne, and I had just finished a 1 year trip through Africa in a Landrover. To be frank, we felt like walking ATMs.
So many human issues. So many outstretched hands and open mouths. So much evidence of charity money going to waste and being abused. So, it was with no small cynicism that I listened to yet another story of a woman who wanted to set up a sanctuary for cheetah. Riana had a vision and she had a dream, but she was just another story to me.
At the time, I was staying with my good friends, Richard and Shannon. They knew her and with a small amount of convincing I changed my flight to Australia and joined a small group of people organizing an auction to raise funds.
Within days, we had 180 people paid up, with loads of auction prizes and a fantastic marquis in the Cheetah enclosure. The evening, supported by rugby players, TV celebrities and amazing local businesses was a roaring success.
I left for Australia with a new passion and belief in people and dreams and a personal desire to help where I could.
Over the last 4 years, I have raised just on R150 000 from business in Australia, for the sanctuary and coordinated skilled volunteers for the program, from Australia. It has never been easy – no one hands out money to strangers and to many Cheetah Experience is just another empty mouth expecting to be fed.
But it is not this. It is an amazing place – where dreams can be dreamed and realized. Where it is not about the people but about the wildlife and where promises are made and kept.
Recently my son, having heard about the sanctuary from me, drew and printed Christmas cards and with the help of friends, sold the cards, donating the money (R1 000) through an adoption of Apollo.
I know that the next year will see the realization of many milestones for Cheetah Experience staff and animals and my son and I urge you to contact either the sanctuary (via www.cheetahexperience.com) or me (kvonrausch@hotmail.com) to donate as you can or find out more about how your dreams can come true.
As with everything at the sanctuary, we will always lead by example and I have set myself, a personal goal to raise $15 000 in the next 12 months.
I hope you join my son and I, in your willingness to give – simply and without expectation of something in return.
In reality, you will get more than you ever expect. Much more.
