Getting outta ostrich-crazy Oudtshoorn
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2008
1
6
71
Trip End
Sep 03, 2009
Oudtshoorn,
Western Cape,
South Africa
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
I'll give it the caves. They are impressive. There was the option of the standard tour, and the adventure tour, and I have to admit, I'm not proud of this, but I chickened out. I would have done it, apart from the "devil's post box". Now let me explain. The adventure tour in the cango caves involves squeezing, climbing, crawling and sliding through very small spaces. But there was no way I was going any near the "post box". At 27cm high, and not much wider, you have to squeeze through it as part of the adventure tour of the caves. And, enevitably, there is the story thats becoming more of a legend about the woman who got stuck earlier this year
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. No matter who you speak to about the caves, they will all tell you the same story, with varying exagerations. Apparently, a rather large American woman, was determined to do the adventure tour, despite all the guides telling her she was too big. Sure enough, the woman got wedged solid into the caves. The amount of time she was stuck in the caves according to the story varies from about 2 hours to 2 days and the story gets more dramatic, depending on who you actually speak to. Of course, the rest of the group were stuck behind her and also had to wait for her to be removed. I'm sure that in a few years time, you'll find she was actually stuck for a week!
Now, I know I wouldn't get stuck, but there was still no way I was going to voluntarily do that. So I wimped out and stuck to the standard tour.
And then there are the ostriches. We wound our way down through the beautiful mountains to one of the many Ostrich farms of the area. Oudtshoorn is actually famous for its ostriches, and just about every bit of publicity for the place, and every shop has a picture of an ostrich somewhere on it. Before you've even got the the backpackers, you've already had 5 different women trying to sell you of all things, ostrich feather dusters as souveneirs
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. (Tempted as I was to bring you all home one as a present, I decided they wouldn't fit in my bag, so sorry to disappoint you all). And it doesn't end there. If you buy breakfast at the backpackers, you have scrambled ostrich egg. Tea is ostrich steak braai (BBQ to the rest of the world). Snacks are Ostrich biltong. (Dried meat stuff thats looks like dog food, but occasionally tastes good). As well as the dusters, you can buy just about anything made out of ostrich leather. Which, by the way, I am pleased to tell you, that I now can tell the difference between fake ostrich leather and the real deal, so if you ever need to know, I'm your (wo)man. As well as teaching us this on the tour, they tried to make us eat the ostrich pellets to taste them, but I drew the line at that.
The tour itself was just odd. Fun, but surreal. You start with hand feeding an ostrich, and petting the. I'd like to point out that the whole place whiffs more than a bit by the way. You see Adam and Eve, a breeding pair. And then, you can ride an ostrich. I kid you not. The ostriches are pre-saddled in the enclosure. The guys grab the ostrich by hooking it round the neck and then shove a bag over the ostriches head. At which point the ostrich gets very confused, trys to look round and is pushed into the mounting bit
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. You climb on, and grab the wings. If you a women or child the two handlers run alongside you and catch you to stop you falling off. With the men however, they just let the ostrich go and run around the paddock. I'm not entirly sure what the ostriches actually make of this, but I get the impression they don't really know whats going on. I had planned to stay in Oudtshoorn for 4 nights (as if you stay for 3 you get the 4th free), however, after doing the caves and farm, I was a bit bored. The abseiling didn't seem to be happening here either. A guy I'd met in Cape Town backpackers then turned up with a few other people he'd met on the baz bus (the way all us backpackers get ferried round SA), and they suggested we all moved on the next day. I was glad I did, on the way out my neck and chin were covered in huge insect bites. Eek.
