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Published: September 25th 2007
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Oudtshoorn
Not exactly on the sunny coast, but 97km inland from Mossel Bay, Oudtshoorn used to be home to rich feather barons until the turn of the century. Nestled in the dry region of the Little Karoo, it is the home of wildlife ranches, winerys and the Cango Caves. As exciting as the caves would have been to visit, we had already visited some pretty extraordinary caves in the Greek Islands so we headed straight to the Cango Ostrich Farm to learn more about the world's largest bird native only to Africa.
The ostrich is a pretty big deal over here, they are farmed like cattle and are extremely important in the African market. 10%!o(MISSING)f the income derives from the feathers, 30%!f(MISSING)rom the meat and 60%!f(MISSING)rom the skin. Ostrich leather is much stronger than that of the cow and another pretty crazy fact is that one single ostrich egg is equivalent to twenty-four chicken eggs - thats a lot of scrambies!!
After our very informative lecture, we ventured out to the paddocks to visit all the birds and ended our tour by both having a ride on one - too funny, what an experience that was and
we both managed to stay on alright thanks to the help of the fellas running beside us!! We also had a try of ostrich meat biltong style which to those who don't know is just like jerky (beef tastes much better this way we thought).
SA is also home to some of the finest wines in the world and for that reason we spent an afternoon at the Kango Winery sampling a few wines and even a couple of yummy ports and brandys.
We spent our second day in Oudtshoorn actually making our way back to Mossel Bay for a second attempt at shark cage diving. Unfortunately for us, still no joy. The wind picked up after one hour and a half of being out there and we had to head back to port. No money refunded to us, we were bitterly dissapointed at how this company is run (by a bunch of cowboys). Due to our experience we have spread the word about Shark Africa in Mossel Bay hoping to prevent people from getting ripped off the way we were, we are even going to contact the tourism board to put a bit of wind up em.
We advise those who want to experience cage diving with great whites to do it in Cape Town or Hermanus with the pros where they actually know what they are doing.
Jeffreys Bay
Ahh - the surfing mecca that is J-Bay!!
Home of what is said to be the most perfect and fastest wave on the coast of Southern Africa........Supertubes, or Supers as it's called by the locals. It's a long right point break which accepts the biggest south west swells in the winter making it pretty damn popular also for surf comps. We spent an afternoon sitting and watching Supers, it was breaking about 6-8 ft and the local boys were out there ripping it up making it look so easy. J-Bay also boasts some pretty large sand dunes so for a couple of hours, Sam and I went out and had a go at sandboarding. Adapting the same style as snowboarding we picked it up straight away - though you don't go as fast as I would have liked to so snowboarding is still THE sport!! It was really fun having a bash at it though.
Our second day we hired a couple of mini mals
and wettys and headed down to Dolphin Beach where Sam had his first attempt at surfing and I was still able to make it to my feet to my surprise as it's been about three years since I'd last been for a wave in Devon. The water was surprisingly mild in temp which made it more enjoyable, actually the whole three days in J-Bay we got stellar weather and I can safely say we have our golden tans back...yay!!
In between surfing, sandboarding and tan topping, we enjoyed a whole afternoon shopping in the many surf factory shops that J-Bay is also well known for. Stocking up on surf clothing you just won't buy cheaper anywhere else I tells ya!! And what better way to spend your last night in such a stunning little beach town then drinking a sundowner by the ocean and enjoying the unspoilt loveliness that is Jeffreys Bay - so that's exactly what we did!!
Oh and we also spotted another whale whilst there, showing off near the shore.
Port Elizabeth
Only an hour and a half away on the bus, we arrived in PE and lucky for us the good weather followed. PE
is usually known as the windiest place in South Africa though for the three nights and two days we spent there, again it was perfect beach weather. Due to this we spent our first whole day relaxing on the beach and watching the world go by. The waves were pretty non-existent so there was no point in hiring boards. Anyone who has traveled SA knows that the public transport is pretty shite so we hired a car our second day (cheaper then going by a taxi!) and drove out to the Seaview Lion Park.
As you enter the park you are greeted by giraffe, Zebra, wildebeest and impala that roam free in the game reserve. Our next stop was to visit three majestic (but very sleepy) Siberian Tigers and then further on we got to see more lions and lioness including a couple of very rare white lions which are part of a special breeding program to help maintain the species. After getting really close to all these guys, we paid a small fee and were able to actually go into an enclosure and interact with three of the four and a half month old lion cubs which words
Betsy
Cango Ostrich Farm, Oudtshoorn just can't describe. You think that lions and tigers are pretty amazing creatures but when you get this close to them you just get so overwhelmed and it doesn't feel real!! The Lion Park has got to be one of the top ten things we have experienced so far in this trip definently!!
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Becs
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Loving Life
Wow - you guys are absolutely tearing it up! Phil and I are especially loving all your SA stories and Phil's itching for our trip next year to show me all of this too. Love you and keep up the good work! Love Becs xo