OSTRICH COUNTRY

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Outshoorn - ostrich country, ostrich farms everywhere. Have a long drive though mountains and desert to the brilliant Backpackers Paradise. Top tip - these guys are all over it, they have thought of everything that is annoying for backpackers and offer a solution. The guy also checks us in to a dorm on our own which is nice!! Ostrich egg breakfast for everybody - one litre of egg in each one! Yummy though...

Meet some cool people, Anat from israel, Emma from states and Jao from Brazil.

Spend a busy day being full on tourists. First go to the Cango caves with Emma and Anat. This is an experience not to be missed. The caves are awesome, pics do not do it justice at all - they are HUGE!! They used to have gigs in them - it would be class, but people kept breaking off staligmites and taking them home so they stopped. I'd love to get them to rethink for a relentless night! You do the first part with your guide in different big chambers then you basically get left, underground to do the adventure trail. Not for claustrophobics!! We squeeze, roll, climb, slide and clamber our way through the next parts, brilliant craic!

That afternoon we visit an ostrich farm to learn about these weird animals. They are pretty aggressive but quite fascinating! They can't fly, are thick as mince, often mate for life and the guy birds take care of the eggs and the babies. We meet some one day old chicks who are already the size rugby balls, after 4 days they are too agressive to touch! Radge big birds.

They offer you the chance to ride these bad boys. Apparently this all started when the farm kids were bored years ago and there are actually ostrich jockeys. I think that this os wrong, for many reasons! Everything about these birds and this ostrich farm is slightly wrong but sparks and emma step up. The next 5 minutes was maongst the funniest 5 minutes of my life!! I swear I nealry wet myself. Sparks has banned me from watching the video cos it makes me cry laughing for hours afterwards. I CAN'T WAIT TO SHOW IT TO YOU GUYS!! Video camera was a complete bonus for this! Thanks guys who got it for us for our wedding present!

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