Oudtshoorn

  Oudtshoorn, South Africa
Friday, February 3, 2006

We left the coast temporarily again and headed inland to a place called Oudtshoorn. This area is thick with Afrikaan's. Not the greatest place for vegetarians, they love their meat here. Tons of Ostrich, crocidile and other game dishes. This place is kind of like the area of Graaf Reinet that we were in. Infact they call it the little Karoo or Klein Karoo. It is basically a continuation of that valley.

This place is scrorching hot. I experienced heat stroke the first day and nearly passed out in the grocery store. The backpacker's owner told me it wasn't even that hot today. They consider it to get really hot at 44.C anything below that is just warm. They stop outside school sports when it gets above 42.C I told her we maybe get the odd day in our summer when it gets above 30.C She laughed and said that is cooler than their winter temperatures. I would hate to live here.

Our backpackers was run by a very nice family. It was very clean and had a great atmosphere. There were a lot of different areas to sit around at night and chat with other travelers.

Our backpackers and a strange bird


The main attractions here are the Cango caves and the numerous Ostrich farms. A trip to Oudtshoorn would not be complete without visiting both. We stayed at Backpackers Paradise here. It is at the end of the main road for the town. Easy walking distance to shops and restuarants. The owner is very pleasant and helpful at this place. It has a bar area and a small pool to dip in.

Our first day we went to the a place called the Cango Wildlife Reserve. They are associated with the South African wildlife preservation, and help endagered species. We got to see a crocidile jump right out of the water for a piece of raw meat that one of the workers was holding. We also saw what are called pigmy hippos. They are about a tenth the size of regular hippos, smaller than some of the baby hippos we have seen. They are very aggressive and dangerous just like the larger ones though. Hard to believe because they look so cute.

We also saw a rare type of Otter, as well as lions, cheetah, a jaguar, and white siberian tigers. The best part of our time spent here was paying extra to go into two animal areas. First we got to go in with a worker to pet a cheetah. It was amazing. It was a little scary being right up close to them. They have a certain look to their eyes that says I can easily take a swipe at your head right now if I want to.

Jack was petting one and got it purring, it was so loud it sounds like a lawn mower. When you feel its body the vibration is really strong. The second area we got to go into had 4 month old white siberian tigers. They are quite big already. They were very active and wanted to play a lot. One tried to bite my shoe and foot. We had to keep at their backside, so each time they flipped over we had to move. I guess they didn't want us to get swatted by their paws.



There were very strict rules for petting both the tigers and the cheetah. Certain kinds of touching could provoke them to bite or swat at you. I had a bandana on my head using it as a hair tieback, it was only about 2 inches wide, I had to remove it when we went into the cheetahs. Anything that might appear different to them might cause them to react to it.

It was nice to pet them, but I was kind of glad to get out of there. The young tigers didn't feel threatening at all, but I guess they could do some serious damage if they got out of hand. There were 3 workers that went in their enclosure with us, they seemed really edgy the whole time.It was a rare experience but deffinately the huge amount of cash to do it makes you think if it was worth it!



Our next stop was an Ostrich farm. We got to get up close with a female bird that is used to people. This is the bird the guide used to educate us about the Ostrich. He lifted up her wings to show us they have a two fingers with claws at the end of their wings. I petted the neck, it was really soft. The feet are huge. They will not bite you, but they could seriously injure or kill you by kicking. Their huge claw like toe can rip right into you. We got to stand on some Ostrich eggs, they are so strong, I don't know how the poor chicks get out of them. It can take a full day for them to get out, then the chicks stay under the mom for up to 3 days to regain strength.

The highlight of this place was me(Audrey) riding an Ostrich. Yes you read correct! This is not for the faint of heart I tell you. The guys put the Ostrich into a V shaped corall and put a bag over its head to keep it calm. Then they help you to get on its back. This thing is really tall and hard to get on. They lift up its wings and kind of tuck your legs inside them. Then they get you to hang onto the part where its wings attach to the body. By this time I am starting to have second thoughts about this whole idea. What the heck am I doing?

This is an arena like at a stampede with an audience of the other people on the farm tour. Jack is watching and can hardly believe I am doing this. They take the bag off its head and let it go. Holy crap this thing busts out of the corall and starts running mad across the dirt. It is nothing like riding a horse, it is the most unnatural thing I have ever experienced. I soon let it be known that I wanted off, it was getting a bit freaky. The workers caught up to me and the crazy bird.

They basically grab you and pull you off the back end of it, its about the only way to get you off. Meanwhile back in the stands, and 4 days later, Jack is still busting his guts over this site. I think it was a lot more fun for him to see than it was for me to do it. All I can say is, been there, done that. I can officially check Ostrich riding off my list of things to do in life, lol!




The next day we went to the Cango Caves. They were amazing and beautiful. They have two different tours you can do. The standard one takes you through the first 6 large galleries. At one point they shut the lights off to give you an idea of what it was like for the first people who discovered the caves. The san people in this area used them as shelter many years ago. You get to see the immense size of the inside of the caves and all the huge stalactites and stalagmites.




They are not moist caves like others in the world. They were formed over a million years ago when this area was a tropical climate, now it is semi-desert. The other tour is the adventure one. We opted out of this one, I don't think I would have fit anyways. It is crazy, you have to squeeze along corridors only 24cm high on your belly. One is called the letter box, you literally slide through and opening like a letter. Another is called the love tunnel, this one you have to crawl along for over 24metres, it is only a bit over 30cm high. There is also one called the devils chimney, there is nothing to grip onto or put your feet on to climb up it. You have to get up by wiggling your body like a snake. All this sounded a bit much for us, too enclosed!

See you at the next stop, the winelands of South Africa!