Dreams Come True in Oudtshoorn!

Saturday broke as the day Thomas hd been waiting for since we booked the trip in January—ostrich day! We headed up the N12 from Wilderness to Oudtshoorn, home of a full 97% of the world’s ostriches. Our destination was Highgate Ostrich Farm. We had a great tour of the farm, including the incubator where more than 1000 eggs could be held. We also got to feed ostriches by hand—they have no teeth so their nibble didn’t hurt as they grabbed corn from our hands. Because they have no teeth, they also cannot chew their food, and so swallow stones to grind food in their gullet. We also got to stand on a group of ostrich eggs—they are incredibly strong and can support up to 220 kilos (whatever that means!).

Then we moved on the to real highlight—riding the ostriches. It took the ostrich “wranglers” a few minutes to round up a recalcitrant ostrich, and then Thomas mounted up. You have to hold their wings where they meet the body as your “reins” and you place your legs under the wings as your stirrups. It is not all that comfortable! The ostrich then took off, running around the pen—they move fast. I managed to stay on for the entire ride (unlike a German guy who ended up on his butt a few minutes later).

Sarah, like her mother, has a deathly fear of birds. It was therefore with some trepidation that she climbed aboard an ostrich for her own ride. I wish I could upload the video (another slow connection, I’m afraid), because her squeals of fun/delight/abject fear were really too much to put into words. Sarah dismounted somewhat gracefully and even reported afterwards that she really enjoyed it! All in all, it was my favorite day in South Africa so far—I had been talking about riding an ostrich for months and finally got to do it!


Sarah mounts up.



Thomas gets going.