© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

OUDTSHOORN

We arrived in Oudtshoorn not knowing where we were going to stay for the night, we saw a tourist information and went in. They recommended a place and we drove there, as usual I don't remember the name of it, which is a shame as it was really lovely. The actual building was very pretty, all carved wood and very decorative. Our room was lovely too, absolutely huge and furnished with antiques. The owners were really friendly, and breakfast the next morning was delicious. There is a saying that if you want to eat well in the U.K. eat breakfast three times a day! Well I would say that the best breakfast we have eaten during all of our travels were in South Africa, they certainly know how to cook a good breakfast. I think it's all down to the wonderful quality of the meat they have, it really is excellent. Anyway, breakfast aside Oudtshoorn is promoted as the 'ostrich capital of the world', and as such there are ostrich farms surrounding the town. You can visit several of the ostrich farms, and we felt like doing something really touristy so we decided to spend the whole of the next day visiting as many of the local tourist attractions as we could before laziness got the better of us. The first place we visited was the Cango Wildlife Ranch.

Cango Wildlife Ranch

The Cango Wildlife Ranch and Valley of Ancients endangered species breeding facility, was quite an interesting place. Apparently it is the oldest and largest cheetah contact centre in the world. It offers visitors the rare opportunity to actually interact with the hand reared cheetahs, which with the small fee you pay on top of the normal entry fee helps toward saving the cheetah and other species from extinction. Cango Wildlife Ranch is internationally recognized for its far reaching conservation efforts. We arrived at the Cango Wildlife Ranch early, there was plenty of parking on the road out the front, and we noticed that the whole road was a tourist trap with ostrich farms and souvenir shops lined along it. When we first entered the ranch we wandered round on our own for a while looking at the animals, before meeting up with a guide for a more in depth chat and look at the animals. Our guide first took us to have a very close look at the crocodiles, she fed them and made some jokes, not very funny but at least she was trying ~ very trying! After seeing the crocodiles we were then led up on a walkway that led us right over the top of the big cat enclosures. It was whilst we were walking along above the big cat enclosures that we were told, that later for an additional fee, we could actually go inside one of the enclosures and touch some of the younger cheetahs. Only about four of us from our the group we were walking with said they wanted too, we we two of them, well we were having a 'tourist' day! Before we were taken into the enclosure we were told how to approach the cheetahs and given other advice to help keep us safe. I must say that as naff as it was, it really was a great experience to be so close and tactile with these amazingly beautiful animals. The guide who came in the enclosure with us took lots of photos of us with the cheetahs, and when we left we were given a certificate so say that we had bravely stroked a cheetah, I guess they are really meant for visiting children! Once we had enjoyed our visit to the Cango Wildlife Ranch we were still in the mood for more touristy adventures! So we headed to the ostrich farm across the road.

Cango Ostrich Farm

I think it was the Cango Ostrich Farm we visited, there were quite a few though so I could be wrong, I guess they are all much the same anyway. There were farm tours every twenty minutes, so we didn't have long to wait before we were taken on our tour of the farm. There were only a few of us which meant we could all hear and see everything clearly. The tour was surprisingly in depth and informative. We had everything there is to know about an ostrich egg and more explained to us, as well as being able to feed the ostrich and for anyone who was interested we were able to actually ride an ostrich! That was not something that appealed to either of us though, especially after we saw the look of sheer terror on the face of the first lady brave enough to try it! There was a curio shop selling a wide range of ostrich products, from leather handbags to biltong and everything in between. We were both enjoying our morning so far and we felt like doing something else, so we left the ostrich farm and set off for the Cango Caves.

Cango Caves

The Cango Caves number among South Africa's most popular ten attractions and are visited by a quarter of a million people every year. The Cango Caves are situated 26km north of Oudtshoorn in the Klein Karoo, representing a stunning landscape growing inside the Swartberg foothills. The caves are described as one of the great wonders of the world, well I'm not sure about that, maybe an underground wonderland. Legend tells it that thousands of years ago an intrepid tribe of KhoiSan people wandered through the arid plains of the Klein Karoo taking shelter in a large cave entrance. Centuries later in about 1780 a colonial farmer Van Zyl decided to venture past the caves entrance lowering himself into the darkness. Judging by the echo of his voice he felt he had entered a cavern of breathtaking proportions, and by the dim light of his burning torch he could just about make out some shapes in this subterranean wonderland. It is thought he had first lowered himself into the first great hall which is about 98m long, 49m wide and 15m high. Since 1929 the Cango Caves have been lit with electric light, and attracted thousands of local and international visitors each year. The caves were declared a national monument in 1938. I think we chose a good day to visit as it was not too busy. We were taken on a tour of the caves by a very knowledgeable guide. There were a couple of different tours to choose from, the standard tour which lasts an hour, or the adventure tour which is longer at one and a half hours. We chose the standard 60 minute tour. Apparently the Cango Caves are among the biggest stalagmite formations in the world. The time taken to form many of these formations varies as it depends on water supply and carbon dioxide. At the Cango Caves many of the formations are thought to have been started several million years ago, with many still in the process of growth. Some of the formations were lit by coloured light to add interest, and although there are many areas that are unfortunately not open to the public there was still so much to see. The chambers have names, and in each one the guide told us the names of each different formation. You could see where most of the names came from, such as 'The Bridal Couple', 'The Coral Chamber' and 'The Angel's Wing'. Walking round was pleasant enough, and the caves were not as cold as some other caves we have visited in other countries, these were around 18c/65f. I don't think I would have liked to have been one of the first visitors to these caves before electricity was installed, but today they definitely make a worthwhile visit. There was a self service restaurant at the caves along with a curio shop, kennels, parking and a creche which is an excellent idea for those with very small children as there was quite a lot of walking involved and lots of stairs to climb.

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We enjoyed our day doing the touristy things, the Cango Wildlife Ranch, the Cango Ostrich Farm and the Cango Caves were a pleasant and unusual distraction from drinking in bars! From Oudtshoorn we drove to Knysna.

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