Blogs from Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 5

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Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Oudtshoorn November 17th 2008

Spent most of the day travelling from Hermanus by Baz Bus to a town called George where a shuttle picked me to take me up inland for an hour to place which is practically impossible to pronounce correctly...Oudtshoorn. I had heard this place was all about Ostrich farms and therefore for some reason had in my head some kind of small hick town with dusty ranches with ostrich running around instead of horses...but its actually a really beautiful and very green lively little town with nice shops and restaurants...quite a suprise. The hostel - Backpackers Paradise - was equally suprising..the name really does say it all. Beautiful gardens, comfy beds in big airy clean dorms, Glen (the manager) who organises everthing for you from visits to the Ostrich farms,to the Wildlife Centre, the famous Cango Caves, ... read more
Getting a kiss
The Ostriches love me!!
Proffessional Ostrich Riding

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Oudtshoorn November 11th 2008

We are in Swellendan in West Cape tonight for our second Wedding anniversary. Was great to be together after spending our first anniversary apart last year. We flew into George yesterday and stayed in a cool place called Wilderness on the coast. We did a bit of tiki tour to Knysna east along the coast which was OK but a bit touristy. Very similar to the Great Ocean Road in places. There are two parallel ranges of mountains inland to George which are fairly steep and rugged. We headed north through the first range (Outenitua Range) to a wee town called Oudtshoorn which is famous for its Ostrich farms. we saw plenty including one Geoff thought was having a fit until we got closer and saw it was mating a female!! South African drivers are almost ... read more
Storm over fields

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Oudtshoorn November 11th 2008

Flew into Joberg on Saturday and met up with Geoff's brother Steven and his wife Marna who were excellent company and very hospitable. Spent the first day drinking beer, watching rugby, eating biltong and having a brai (BBQ) all of which were excellent. The next day we went for a wee drive to a Cheetah Reserve/Conservation centre with 90 cheetahs and 70 wild dogs. It was pretty cool and we also got to see our first antelope (Nyala and Impala) and pat a purring cheetah called Byron. We are in Swellendan in West Cape tonight for our second Wedding anniversary. Was great to be together after spending our first anniversary apart last year. We flew into George yesterday and stayed in a cool place called Wilderness on the coast. We did a bit of tiki tour ... read more
Steven, Marna, us and Byron the Cheetah

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Oudtshoorn November 9th 2008

8 Nov - drive to Outshoorn. We have lunch at the Cango Caves then have a guided tour of the caves which have interesting stalagmite and stalactite formations. Outshoorn is famous for its ostriches - they're everywhere. There are lots of ostrich farms in the area with hundreds of birds on each farm. Some of the group go to visit a farm, but the rest of us visit Cango Wildife Ranch. As soon as we walk in, the first animals we see are...MEERKATS!!!! Soooooo excited, it was great to see my fave animal in the wild a few days ago but now I can see them up close too, they're gorgeous (did you know that they no longer have meerkats at Edinburgh Zoo??!!). I am transfixed for ages watching the wee guys. It's a colony, complete ... read more
Keeping watch
Meerkat facts
Soooo cute

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Oudtshoorn November 7th 2008

Sorry we have not had access to internet for a while..... We had a good journey from the most southern tip of Africa into the heart of the Karoo area. The roads were good and it didnt take us long to get to our next stop - The amber lagoon. This was litterally in the middle of no where, a mad german woman packed up an sailed on the Amber Lagoon to SA and set up a little retreat in the middle of a desert. We arrived in good time and chilled out by the pool before going on a tour of the neighbouring Ostrich farm. It was excellant. We should have stayed longer..... read more

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Oudtshoorn August 24th 2008

Getting posted in Cango Caves Well it has to be said that when it comes to Lake Pleasant Living size isn’t everything. It may have provided us with the largest room but it probably was the worst food and only near the bottom of the top five best views. We left after breakfast and headed yet again along the N2. We passed through a place called Wilderness so named because the wife of some fella when she married him said she wanted to spend the first year of their marriage in a wilderness so he bought some land, put a hut on it and called it Wilderness - ta da! At George we turned onto the N9/N12 and headed up through the Outeniqua Pass, which gave us fantastic views over green rolling hills. You’d see some ... read more
More Cango Caves
The Letterbox
Tunnel of Love

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Oudtshoorn July 18th 2008

July 16, 17, 2008 Cape Town - Oudtshoorn, S.A. Wednesday morning we began our exploring of the Cape area of South Africa. We met our guide, Carles, and drove today north and east to Oudtshoorn. This is a very nice drive through some beautiful mountains to an area of farms and past many small vineyards and fruit growing areas. The landscape changes to semi-desert ( very similar to Arizona ) and a few beautiful green valleys in the mountains. There are big sheep farms and as we approached Oudtshoorn many more farms. Our stay in Oudtshoorn was at a very, very nice place called Rosenhof Country House. Maybe the nicest place we have stayed at on our whole trip. Oudtshoorn is a small city of 100,000 or so and the Country House is on the outskirts ... read more
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Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Oudtshoorn July 15th 2008

We heard reports of poor weather for the coast, so we decided to head inland away from the Garden Route and take the alternative Route 62 from Oudtshoorn to Robertson. Oudtshoorn is the Ostrich capital of the world and is also the gateway to the Cango Caves. The caves were cool and the Ostrich was delicious. In Robertson we treated ourselves to a wine-tasting tour where we visited four wineries and it was probably a good thing that we didn't have to drive. The best part about Route 62 is the beautiful landscape of the Klein Karoo.... read more
Ostrich
Cango 3
Ostrichs

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Oudtshoorn June 11th 2008

West of Capetown from Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay lies "The Garden Route." You could make months of holidaying out of just seeing this bit of coastline which boasts the world's highest bungee, whale watching, shark diving, famous surf beaches and heaps more stuff that I can't be bothered listing. However, I only had a few days to spend in this bit of the world and needed to choose one place. After surveying the bar at the hostel I decided to get the "Baz bus" (backpacker travel bus) to Outdtshoorn - the ostrich capital of the world. Turned out to be a riot. I learned a lot about Ostriches. I even rode one. Unfortunately, I have no evidence. (This is what happens when you leave a pom in charge of the camera - sorry El) I ... read more
Ostriches
Quad biking
Horse Riding

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Oudtshoorn May 30th 2008

Von Kapstadt geht es mit dem Bus weiter nach Swellendam. Ich haette es fast bereut, hier einen Stopover zu machen. Im Dunkeln musste ich das Hostel finden, welches irgendwo am A... lag. Stunde... passt. Aber dafuer habe ich zwei suuuuper nette Israelis getroffen, die mich prompt - hungrig wie ich war - zum Essen einluden. Sie sind juedisch und zu Hause veranstaltet die Familie jeden Freitag ein Festessen, um den heiligen Tag, den Samstag zu feiern. Sie haben mir ein wirklich leckeres Menue serviert... holla. Als Ausgleich bin ich morgens frueher aufgestanden (der Supermarkt ist ne halbe Stunde weg), um Fruehstueck zu holen. Itais Grossvater ist Deutscher und vielleicht kommt daher die wirklicherstaunliche Charakteraehnlichkeit. Mit denen waere es echt nett gewesen, weiterzureisen, aber leider kamen sie aus der anderen Richtung. Um weiter nach Oudtshoorn zu kommen, ... read more
Nur downhill... alles klar
Ostriches geben ein super Steak ab... Zart im Biss, aromatisch im Abgang
Mein neues Haustier... leider herrscht Leinenpflicht in allen Bereichen Suedafrikas




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