Working with wildlife can be both risky and rewarding, especially when you are photographing them. It can not only be difficult to get the perfect shot, but tiring also. When one tired photographer decided to take a nap on the job…he got the surprise of a lifetime!
Dolph Volker is a volunteer at the Cheetah Experience in South Africa, where the population of these big cats are being preserved. Cheetah’s can be extremely shy animals and often times don’t take very well to human interruption in their daily lives. But Dolph has been working for months to gain the confidence of these animals, and all of his hard work paid off.
During one Volker’s trips, he became tired due to photographing all day in the hot sun, so he decided to take a nap under a tree. That’s when a cheetah named Eden spotted Volker snoozing away.
Eden walked up to Volker, sniffed him, and decided to settle in and cuddel with him. To say Dolph was surprised to find Eden when he woke up would be an understatement. And that was the beginning of their friendship. A beautiful, amazing, fascinating friendship. Eden looks at Dolph as if he belongs to the same species as her. She cuddles him, nibbles him, purrs and snuggles with him.
The bond between the two couldn’t be any more adorable. In fact, Dolph is now being called “The Cheetah Whisperer” since he spends most of his time in cheetah’s company. I mean…come on — how sweet is this!
