Outdshoorn - Ostriches & Crocodiles

Monday 3 August

Our usual day starts with me driving off at around 5:30 am whilst the boys are still sleeping and arriving somewhere spectacular for sunrise where I wake the boys and we have breakfast marvelling at some wonder.

This morning we took breakfast at Cape Argulas, the most southernest tip of the African continent. This is also the point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean, and we can boast of having had one foot in the Atlantic and one foot in the Indian Ocean at the same time.

We then took the road all the way up to Montagu where we stopped for lunch and bathed in the hot springs. The temperature of the hottest pool was 43C and apparantly the radioactive minerals have special healing properties. We shall see!

The stunning drive up was through acres of green and yellow and I don't think I have ever driven through such beauty before. One particular hilight was the driving through the Kogsmanskloof Pass which was a huge arch cut out of the rock. The drive from Montagu to Outdshoorn was, without a shadow of doubt, the most stunning yet. When we weren't dwarfed by mountains either side of us, we were driving over them looking down over the landscape. I could have stopped on every bend to get a picture of every different view, but there is no way I could capture the true beauty on camera.

Tuesday 4 August

This morning's breakfast was taken on the Swartberg pass. It is said to have the most spectacular views in the country. The highest point is 1600m and the road leading through it is narrow with huge drops either side. This drive is taken very slowly and carefully. We didn't have breakfast at the top due to the wind. So windy was it, that when Dan opened the door to let Kieran pout for a pee, the wind blew the door right off. Thankfully it wasn't taken down the side of the mountain, but we did have a shock, and once we had managed to semi secure it, we drove to a safer place to put it back on, and let Kieran out for his pee.

Munching on bacon butties whilst gazing over the Karoo has registered in my top 'places to have breakfast' in the world.

Outdshoorn is all about ostriches. If Kieran had his way, we would now have a pet ostrich, as well as a penguin and a dog. There are over 130 ostrich farms in this area and we had such a laugh with one particular herd when we stopped to take photos. As we got out of the camper van they all came running over to check us out. Even funnier was when all there heads were down to peck at the ground, if one of us made a noise, up would come all the heads together.

We visited an ostrich farm and are now knowledgable in everything you need to know about an ostrich and Kieran and Dan rode one. Watching the boys speed off on these great clumsy birds, being supported by a ranger running along either side to stop them from falling off as they were bounced along: Now that was funny.

Next stop was the Cango Wildlife Ranch. Although there are many animals here, and we were pleased to see the enclosures were spacious and resembled the anilmals own habitat as much as possible, the main reason to visit here was the crocs. Some one back in Cape Town told us of a place where you can be lowered ina cage, in a pool of crocodiles. And this was it. after lying (again) about Kieran's age we all had a go and spent abpout 20 minutes each with these beasts. We were lowered right amongst them and at one point one big old crocodile pressed his nose right up to the bars. I put my nose as close to his as I dared and as tempted as I was to actually touch noses, I refrained. We had heard of a previous visitor who decided to tickle one under its mouth. Let's just say, he wont be doing that again!

Although a little on the comercial side, it was a great experience nonetheless, and in terms of animal encounters, we are really adding to the list. I'm starting to wonder if there is anything left to do!

After lunch we headed to Knysna where we started our drive along the Garden Route. Now, I am not too sure about this yet as so far, we haven't seen anything that's truly stunning. At times I wondered if we were actually on the right road! Maybe we have been blown away so much by the scenery of the past 3 days that the Garden Route now seems nothing more than ordianary. From the road that took us into Hermanus along the coast, Kogmanskloof Pass, Route 62 from Montagu to Outdshoorn, The Swartberg Pass, and driving through the Outeniqua Pass on the way to Knysna, it's a miracle I have been able to keep my eyes on the road.