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| Erin's South Africa Journals - 11-14-02 For our full day in Oodtshorn, we knew we wanted to see the Cango Wildlife Ranch and an ostrich farm. There are 4 ostrich farms in town, so we just wanted the closest one! We'd priced trips from the hostel, and they wanted 40 Rand ($4US) to drive us to the ostrich farm and then the wildlife ranch. Upon further asking, we found that the ranch was only 2 km from the hostel, and the ostrich farm next door! So we opted to walk, and set off for the farm around 10am. We arrived in time for a 10:15am tour, and saw lots of crocodiles on their breeding farm - some huge ones, but not even half the size of the wild ones off northern Australia's coast, apparently!!! Still, the crocs were impressive to look at! Then we moved on to CheetahLand, their version of the breeding park showcase. We saw several paddocks of cheetahs, as well as a puma, a couple of jaguars and white tigers, and some lions. At the end of this, we got to pay a bit extra to pet the cheetahs! We went in and got to stroke these tame 2 and 3 year old cheetahs, who purred so loudly it sounded like anger! It was great! By now it was hot, so we shared a bit of a meal and a drink before heading further down the highway to the ostrich park. A park ranger stopped and gave us a 2 minute ride to the park along the way, saying that only backpackers would be walking this road! We took the tour there, and had the opportunity to sit on and even ride the ostriches!!! That was a heart-racing experience, let me tell you!!! By the end of this, I was tired, but we walked back through town in search of ostrich eggs for the next hour, then got some groceries before heading back. We rested a little, then got a nice little romantic dinner at a nearby Russian cafe! Strange what you'll find in rural South Africa...anyway, it was good. We soon hit the sack, as tomorrow we needed to hurry up and rest! The plan was to get to Buffalo Bay, where a hostel there on the beach was our resting stop for the weekend. |
| The Cango Wildlife Cheetah Breeding Program allowed us to pet these 2 and 3 year old cheetahs! |