2010 South Africa – Oudtshoorn Ostrich Farm
24th January 2010
We left Betty’s Bay for the second of our trips starting with the Cango Caves. The journey to Oudtshoorn was around 200 miles on a particularly hot day which made it quite unpleasant at times as our car didn’t have air conditioning. We checked into our bed and breakfast room and took a walk into the deserted town. We walked over what is claimed to be the oldest suspension footbridge in South Africa and I well believe it as the weight from just the two of us made it move around a lot more than our nevers were comfortable with. In the winter the bridge crossed a river but now everything was dry. We found a restaurant and had spare ribs and lamb chops which the area is well known for. I was a little nervous about returning to our guest house in such a deserted area so I asked the owner if it was safe. I was surprised when she offered to drive us and said she did it all the time. I had no idea whether it was unsafe or she was just being very friendly but I did notice that all the houses had metal bars on the windows and doors.
Next morning we started with a tour of an ostrich farm. We were lucky that some ostriches were hatching in incubators so they took one out and held it in front of us so we could stroke it. They even showed us an egg that was still in the process of hatching. These giant eggs were so strong that they invited me to stand on one and still it didn’t break so I don’t know how tiny baby ostriches managed to get through the shell. 
The farm claimed to have the only friendly ostrich in South Africa. They noticed at an early age that instead of hanging around with the bad-tempered ostriches, this one followed the humans around all day. We all had a turn at feeding it and normally it would have given us a little kiss but we were warned that he was still hungry so his kisses could be a little rough.
We were led to another section that held six ostriches kept for riding. Anyone under 70 kilos (which thankfully counted me out) was able to sit on an ostrich to have a photo taken or even ride one. Federika was the only person with the courage to sit on it although I think she was expecting to just stroll around a bit so she panicked when it went off at great speed. Two men were hanging onto the ostrich to make sure she didn’t fall off but we were all relieved when she got off in one piece. 
2010 South Africa
