Ostriches in Oudtshoorn

We look a little detour away from the coast into the Karoo (The desert area behind the coast), and spent a few days in the town of Oudtshoorn.  The town became famous back in the 1920's for Ostriches, in particular Ostrich feathers that were all the fashion in those days and the feathers became almost as valuable as gold.

We were picked up in the town of George and had a beautiful ride up over the mountains and into the Karoo before arriving at the Backpackers Paradise Hostel.  It was a great little hostel that served us with Ostrich Kebabs and sausages, then settled down with a few beers to watch the Scotland V England 5 Nations game on the TV.  The owner Marius was with me behind Scotland,but unfortunately Scotland blew it again !!

Next day we decided to get back on the mountain bikes for a ride down the Swartberg Pass 1500M.  The ride was 54K, but all downhill.

Swartberg Mountains.

A fine day for the bikes.

 Looking down the valley from the Swartberg pass.

 The Pass road.

The bottom of the Swartberg pass.

A lone ostrich.

Our cycle took us past the Cango caves, which are an underground labyrinth of caves containing many usual rock formations.  We took a short tour and it was nice and cool in the caves, a nice break from the 41oC temperatures outside !!

 The Cango caves.

 The Cango caves.

The bed chamber !!!!

Cleopatra's Needle.

It looked like something out of an Alien movie.  We then continued down the road and stopped of at an Ostrich farm.

 Ostriches.

Gillian and a wee chick.

A real beauty !!

Ostrich cuddle !!!

Huge eggs !!!

Gillian attempts to feed the ostriches.

Ostrich eggs can hold a fair weight !!!

A Ostrich duster and egg.

One egg is equivalent to 25 hens eggs, massive omelettes!!!

Oudtshoorn was a very quirky and different place to visit.  Glad we took the detour, but it was the hottest place I've ever been, the temperatures are usually above 30oC and the highest they got to when we were there was 42oC.