A four and a half hours’ drive from the wine region of Franschhoek took us to the ostrich capital of the world: Oudtshoorn, via the incredible Route 62 that I distinctly remember from watching Harry Cole’s Great Motorbike Adventures on the TV. It is a vast area of semi-desert backed by the Swartberg and Outeniqua mountain ranges, where fruit, tobacco, grain and Lucerne grow in abundance. We soon passed signs saying ‘Tortoises!’ so we kept our eyes peeled, not expecting to see any, but then suddenly we had a sighting. We stopped the car and jumped out eagerly – a wild tortoise! It had probably never seen humans before, and after a quick photoshoot we placed it back in the safety of the brush where it clambered away at a surprising speed for one of life’s “slow creatures”.
When we arrived at the family run Mooiplaas Guest House, which was a working ostrich farm, we were greeted by two excitable ostriches with flapping plumage. Andre, who ran the guest house, met us on arrival and that evening cooked us one of the best meals we had ever tasted. The BBQ smelt divine and the meat was incredible - there was even ostrich on the menu! There was also a fantastic view across the Klein Karoo to the mountains beyond to go with it. The place was incredible, and it could almost be likened to being in the Australian outback!
The next day we went up the road to where all the main ostrich action took place, and this was quite an educational experience; none of us realised that ostriches could live for over 80 years or that they couldn’t actually look down. So, if you ever find yourself being chased by an ostrich, don’t run, just throw yourself on the floor! Ostrich eggs are like porcelain and virtually indestructible. We held baby ostriches, fed older ones, and were given the opportunity to race on eager-to-win ones. However, after watching the flightless wonders in action and being undecided as to whether it was actually kind to the ostriches, we decided to give that little adventure a miss!
