Greetings From Ostrich Land

The past few days have been spent in Oudtshoorn, a small town that lies on Route 62 inland from the Garden Route. Oudtshoorn is home to many ostrich farms and grew in prominence during the "feather boom" in early 20th century. At the time, ostrich feathers adorned everything from hats to handbags and were considered the height of fashion. Many farmers grew rich due to the demand for the ostrich feathers and built large homes in Oudtshoorn nicknamed "Feather Palaces." Many of these places still exist, and I had a chance to visit one during my stay as well as a pretty museum of the town's history.

Oudtshoorn is located in the Little Karoo mountain range and is home to a spectacular cave system called the Cango Caves. You can take an "adventure tour" of the caves where you squeeze and contort your body through the narrow passages that lie deep within the cave or the heritage tour where you just visit a couple of caverns. Of course I took the adventure tour. The first two caverns were amazing - large stalactites and stalagmites lined the walls in all sorts of interesting shapes. The guides are able to turn up the cavern lights so that visitors can see them more clearly and take better photos of them. Some of my favorites are below.

After viewing the magnificent caverns, the adventure tour began. At first it seemed rather tame, a few low ceilings, a couple of narrow passage ways, a massive staircase to climb. I thought to myself, "well this is kind of boring." Then we came to the Devil's Chimney. This formation is narrow and you have to contort your body into a pretzel in order to climb the slick rock surface. It was really hard and I struggled with it! I couldn't get a good grip so it was hard to pull myself straight up over the rock. I miraculously scaled the chimney and joined the others huffing and puffing. I didn't like that one at all. I managed to fit through the letterbox (11" opening) and tunnel of love without any problems and enjoyed the rest of the adventure tour.

After a morning spent in the Cango Caves, the next stop on my list was a local ostrich farm to learn more about Oudtshoorn's most famous residents. We had a chance to hold an ostrich egg, meet a baby ostrich, sit on an ostrich and feed some very enthusiastic new friends. I really enjoyed my time spent with the big birds.

The day was topped off with a visit to Cango Wildlife Ranch where I had the opportunity to meet and shower lots of love on two adorable cheetahs. I was able to scratch their ears and pet their backs and both cheetahs began purring like house cats! I had to keep reminding myself that they were wild animals or I would have tried to scratch underneath their chin. It was definitely one of the highlights of my day.

I have been spending the last week and a half with two lovely German girls, Magdalena and Kathi. We first met in Chinsta and have had a similar tour itinerary for the past few weeks. They are both very nice and I am lucky to have such great company on my travels.

Well, that's all for now... thanks again for hanging with me as I wrap up my big trip!