On October 27, 1996 our Director, Dawn Simas, traveled to South Africa to meet with the De Wildt Cheetah Breeding Centre in Pretoria. The primary goal of the visit was to discuss guidelines on creating a Cheetah Research Center here in the U.S. to be funded by Wild About Cats, and to aquire one or more cheetah as founding stock for the project. The following six journal pages chronicle that visit. Come share with Dawn the sight of massive thunderstorms churning across endless plains, the heart stopping sound of a nearby low growl while walking alone at night, desperate measures to save one of the few remaining rhinos, a tragic encounter with a giraffe, and above all else, the wonder that is Africa.