Mon Nov 12 - Caves and Ostriches - Bucket List South Africa

Mon Nov 12 - Caves and Ostriches

Today was a relative rest day because according to our guide Thomas there are no rest days with African Bikers. We started with a tour of the Cango Caves followed by a visit to an Ostrich farm. The caves were discovered in 1780 by a Dutch farmer and now they a world heritage site. Some of the formations are amazing and the best I have ever seen. After the tour we went to an ostrich farm where learned all about the ostrich industry that has gone from being all about the feathers (male especially) to now using almost the whole bird. The meat is very tasty, lean and high in protein. They sell eggs that do not hatch but unlikely the meat the eggs are “cholesterol bombs” with one egg equally 24 chicken eggs. They still sell feathers but also use the hides for leather products. It is a very high quality leather. We had lunch at the ostrich farm and then returned to the lodge for a well earned nap.

A few examples of the formations in the cave.

Tim at the breakfast table with all of his friends

A little retail therapy. My new pillow cover that was made by a cooperative of home based embroiderers and our ostrich leather wallets.

Betsy the friendly ostrich which is unusual because they are actually normally very aggressive.

A male who has black and white feathures while the females are grey and white. The red beak and red stripe on its legs means it wants to mate.

An adolescent male whose feathers are slowly revealing its gender.

Standing on an ostrich egg, they are solid.

My Cango salad of vegetables, feta and ostrich bites.

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Gail JohnsonSo what’s it taste like? Chicken?
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5 years ago