Five Shy Meercats

Welcome to Five Shy Meerkats Based in Oudtshoorn, South Africa.Situated in the northern part of the Garden Route, with a lot of fun activities, natural wildlife and the home of Meerkat Adventures. We are based on one of the most beautiful cattle and alfalfa (lusern) farms in Oudtshoorn, home of , the original meerkat conservation site. Let our generation preserve the last frontier. All Information and photos on this site are from my own research and is based on findings and information from seven or eight groups of meerkats that I have worked with around Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo (South Africa) .

You must understand that I have only been researching meerkats since late 2008 when I noticed that the meerkats that I was observing every day were living in an unnatural meerkat habitat. Meerkats and other animals are sold on the black market worldwide as pets. All baby animals are so adorable until they grow up. These animals are not so cute anymore and are then abandoned or kept in very small cages. Meerkats are born with one or two main instincts (digging and marking their territory and troop members). All these are seen as very bad behaviour. Especially if they dig up your carpets and furniture and urinate on your furniture and person. The rest of their behaviour, like what to eat and how to raise their babies are all shown to them by their parents. Remember, that pets are a fulltime responsibility, and they cannot be shoved onto someone else when you go on holiday. They always end up at some rehab centre or animal sanctuary, all of which costs a lot of money to maintain. In the case of meerkats, there is no real meerkat sanctuary in Africa and all orphaned meerkats end up in zoos where these establishments are forced to put them in very small enclosures that are not suitable for active roaming animals