Namibia is a large country with an area of 824 300 km² (321 500 sq.miles) with a population of only 1.9 million people. All regions of the country still have wildlife, including carnivores, although population numbers are often unknown and vary dramatically. Namibia is home to approximately 25% of the world's cheetah population of which 90% live on farmland. Namibia's leopard, lion, brown and spotted hyaena populations are not believed to consist of such large percentages of the world's population, however, they also reside on the unique farmland ecosystem. It is the inevitable conflict with humans on farmland that created the demand for the establishment of the AfriCat Foundation.
 


The AfriCat Foundation was founded in 1991 and officially registered as a non-profit organisation in August 1993. AfriCat has grown significantly since then and what started out primarily as an animal welfare organisation has over the years, identified the need to include a focus on education and research as being essential to our mission – the long-term conservation of large carnivores in Namibia.

The AfriCat Foundation concentrates on four objectives in working towards its mission:

•  To create awareness and promote the tolerance of large carnivores among the farming community by assisting farmers in effective farm management techniques, including targeting problem predators as opposed to indiscriminate removal.

•  To educate youth about large carnivores and environmental awareness.

•  To research large carnivores, particularly cheetahs and leopards, on farmland and in captivity.

•  To provide humane housing, treatment and care for orphaned and injured animals.

AfriCat is based on the guest farm Okonjima in central Namibia, near the town of Otjiwarongo. A board of trustees meets four times a year to guide conservation and animal welfare priorities, while the daily running of the organisation is handled by the director and a small staff. Although almost a quarter of the foundations running costs are covered by Okonjima, the funding of AfriCat's work is dependent on donations from the public and other large welfare organisations.