Ostrich Encounters

It was a long, long journey from Drakensberg to Oudtshoorn, but I made it! I had to take a two-hour shuttle from Drakensberg to Pietermaritzburg, a nine-hour Greyhound bus from Pietermaritzburg to Bloemfontein, and then another nine-hour Greyhound bus from Bloemfontein to Oudtshoorn. It was mostly okay except that last bus had a lot of old and gassy people on it. Not only did it smell, but the gentleman behind me had very long legs so it felt like his knees were poking into my back the entire time! (It was a fairly traumatic experience…) I Did meet a nice girl on the bus and I ended up staying with her at a hostel owned by her friend/father. (She told me he was her friend; He told me he was her father...) I was going to stay at a bigger/more commercial hostel, but I got my own room here, and at a dorm price (~$15)!
First day in Oudtshoorn was dedicated to the Cango Caves and an ostrich farm.


The caves were very cool and supposedly house the biggest stalagmite and stalactite formations in the world. I did the "adventure tour" which basically means you get to crawl/wriggle through some very tiny crevices. The ostrich farm afterwards was a lot of fun, and mostly because these birds are super scary.


Right before I rode one, they told us how an ostrich can kill you and slice you open from head to toe with its big toe! Mom, Theo, and Stacy seem to have enjoyed the video of me riding an ostrich so if you are interested: http://www.sendspace.com/file/06jxmq . This is a link where you can watch a video of me terrified and screaming my head off =) I got revenge that night and ate the ostrich’s brother for dinner: Ostrich kebabs and ostrich sausage. It was really good! Ostrich is just a nice, lean meat that does not taste game-y at all!

**The tour guide suggested that the lion might be gay because he hasn't made a move on the lioness in weeks :)

I also visited a wildlife ranch and ate some really amazing Uncle Barry’s ice cream in Oudtshoorn. But apart from the main touristy things to do, the town itself wasn’t terribly exciting. I would probably skip it in the future unless you have a burning desire to let an ostrich scare you.