February 23 - 24

February 23 - 24

Outeniqua Pass looking towards George

Outeniqua Mountains

Yesterday we had a wonderful trip to George, up, over and through the Outeniqua Mountains and on to Oudtshoorn.  The scenery through the mountains was stunning, again hard to believe it is the same Africa commonly portrayed in articles in National Geographic or the Discovery Channel.  We began in George with it's beautiful coastaline and then headed north into the mountains.  The mountain valleys are extremely fertile and boast many hops farms and vineyards.  There are cattle farms, sheep farms and goat farms and you begin to see the presence of ostrich farms.  As you drop down the northern side the terrain becomes semi-dessert and ostriches are plenty!

Our first stop was at the Cango Wildlife Ranch. This is a breeding facility for many endangered species and is home to more than 47 species of animals and reptiles.  It is best known for its Cheetah conservation program and have successfully raised over 250 Cheetah cubs.  The purpose of the ranch, to quote their mission statement is "to promote and fund the conservation of the Cheetah and other endangered species through captive breeding, behavioural research and public awareness".  It's a very well kept and pleasant facility with lots of big cats (some not indigenous to Africa such as Bengal, Siberian and Snow Tigers), Lemurs, Crocodiles and even a couple of Pygmy Hippos.  The tour was well organized and informative.

Julie and I had an opportunity to pat one of the Cheetahs.  Unfortunately it was the middle of the day, was quite hot and the Cheetah was not very interactive. . . . Julie did manage to get a small purr out of him when she first patted him, but after that I don't believe he was waking up again for anything!  A little disappointing, but quite an experience none-the-less.  As you can see by the pictures, none of the cats were very active.

We left the Wildlife Ranch in search of an ostrich farm.  We weren't looking for any farm in particular, just a show farm where we could perhaps ride an ostrich.  We figured after shark diving and elephant riding since we were now in ostrich country, why not ride an ostrich?!  The Oudtshoorn Ostrich Show Farm delivered.  We had a feast of ostrich meat before the tour of the facility.  Ostrich meat is one of the best meats you can eat.  It is a red meat and is very low in fat and cholesterol (which is completely opposite of the eggs) and has a beefy look, feel and taste to it.  After lunch we went on a very informative tour of the facility.  The farm is strictly a show farm and does not raise any birds for slaughter.  As ostrich farming is one of the main industries in this part of the country there are many show farms open to tourists who can go in and learn about the birds and the industry.  Some of these are operated in conjuction with a commercial ostrich ranch while some, like the show farm we visited, are for tourism.  The commercial farms resemble our cattle farms back home.  We were introduced to a couple of the birds, shown the incubators where the eggs are hatched and Michael was able to stand on the eggs.  One ostrich egg is equivalent to 24 chicken eggs.  Apparently the best way to eat them is scrambled or in an omelette as they are very rich and high in cholesterol.  The female ostrich will lay one egg every two days and will lay up to twelve eggs before she will sit and incubate them (she has to have a full nest).  The ranchers remove the eggs from the females and incubate them artificially as this causes the ostriches to continue to lay.  The incubation period is 42 days.  The birds hatch and are raised and by 18 months they are slaughtered if they are meat birds.

Finally, the highlight of the day came when we were able to take a spin on a bird.  I had heard of ostrich racing before but never would have imagined that we would ever be the ones riding them . . . but it has now become a reality, we have ridden ostriches!  One more thing the check off the bucket list!  Julie finished the day off with a nice ostrich neck massage before we jumped back in the car and headed back to Sedgefield . . .  Tomorrow is a "do nothing" day while we pack our bags and get ready to say "goodbye" to Sedgefield and "hello" to the Pezulu Treetop Lodge near Hoedspruit.  Let the next leg of this African Adventure begin!!