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Namibian family turns farm into sanctuary
"It can be a bit crazy here. Everyday something happens. Once the crocodile got out and was in the swimming pool," said van der Merwe.
Behind the house is a nursery where spindly legged buck and baby meerkats get bottle-fed and an infirmary where an epileptic baboon, blind monkey and a one-winged falcon named Nelson are kept.
Returning home from a weeklong trip, van der Merwe's daughter Marlice van Vuuren stops to say a special hello to Goeters, the cheetah that was her childhood companion.
Striding among the poppies in the back garden, the 27-year-old male cat has been the star of many films and commercials and has now been "adopted" by Jolie.
Van der Merwe and van Vuuren, a striking mother-daughter team, often take afternoon strolls in the bush, a troop of baboons in tow.
Guests on the morning feeding tour can observe leopards like Missy Jo and lions like Sher-Kahn and the one-eyed Savannah devour chunks of raw meat in their large enclosures, a short drive away from the lodge. Endangered wild dogs fight over scraps.
"We came all the way from Paris to kiss a cheetah," said Pascal Esteve, planting a peck on Goeter's neck.
Rehabilitating and keeping wild animals, even in large enclosures, is frowned on by some conservationists.
"I don't disagree," said van Vuuren, "But 90 to 95 percent of animals come here because people have shot their moms or raised them as pets and then want to dump them when they become a problem.
"They come to us because there has already been human interference. We try to give them as natural a life as possible," she said.
The farm reintroduces what animals it can back into the wild. But 75 percent of those it takes in are too badly injured or have grown too used to human contact to make it on their own. These animals are kept in large semi-wild enclosures where they are fed.
Plans are now under way to transform the farm into a nature reserve in which as many animals as possible would be able to roam free.
"I want the animals to be free. That is my dream," said van der Merwe.
Jolie, whose picture is on a wall of family photographs in van der Merwe's home, has become the international patron of the endeavor.
She first visited the farm while in Namibia filming "Beyond Borders," which featured a vulture rescued by van Vuuren.
Jolie has been back to the farm a number of times, including last year when she was in the country with Brad Pitt to give birth to the couple's baby daughter, Shiloh.
The star was so taken by the work done by the foundation, she agreed to become a patron and donated about $270,000 for a fence and to restock the reserve with game.
Van Vuuren said they hope to release predators into the area with five tagged lions first and then wild dogs.
She acknowledges releasing semi-tamed animals back into the wild is risky, but believes predators can learn to hunt for themselves.
"The instinct is there. I have seen it," she said, cuddling up to a lazy lion.
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