Oudtshoorn has a bit more life to it, and is famous for its ostrich farms, which are in abundance. There is also Cheetaland, which we visited, expecting a large sanctuary full of recouperating cheetas - a bit like Evelyn's lion experience. What we got was nothing like a land, but a zoo. We were a bit disappointed, as all the animals were squashed in and didnt look too happy, and whilst we wanted to go and pat some cheetha cubs we were a bit disheartened. The croc show was equally as small, and the crocs weren't in a playful mood or interested in the dead rabbits on offer (there was no disguising what was for dinner!!) The pigmy hippos, lemars, and meercats were cute and had a bit more space to play in.
We checked into Backpackers Paradise, and were pleasantly surprised – good, clean, ensuite room with balcony, friendly staff, cheap internet, TV room showing the footy (Germans got the remote early so couldn’t watch the Pool vs Galatasry;( ), BBQ/fire area by the bar. What more could you ask for at a backpackers;) This was the perfect place to relax after a 54km cycle...
Ahhh, the story of the 54km cycle ride - After leaving the backpackers at 9am by mini van and being dropped off an hour later at “Die Top” (The Top) of the Swartsberg mountains (This mountain range reaches a height of 1585m above sea level), and so our journey began.
Looking over all the mountains that we were about to conquer we finally realised that we may have slightly over judged our fitness (well at least Evelyn thought so…) Although most of it was downhill it made it quite treacherous with the steepness, windiness and adding to that the wind factor, so staying on the bike was a challenge!! So no matter how hard you tried to pick up speed before the inclines the wind just took it away from you, not to mention the optical illusions of some of the up-hills that looked like down hills. But it was great fun trying to outdo the other couples ;)
After 1.5hrs (25km) we got to the Cango Caves (and what an up hill it was to get to them!) Marc sneakily cycled up and around the corner - to impress Evelyn as she got off her bike at the start of the hill with a few of the other girls - and once out of eye shot also walked ;)
So it was that at around 12.30 we did the adventure tour at the famous Cango Caves. This tour takes you 600m under the mountains and through the caves showing off the stalactites and stalagmites and all the other rock formations that have built up over millions of years. Once we passed through the easy bits and climbed down a few stairs we got to the tight bits.
It started with the accent up Jacobs Ladder, before coming to lovers lane, named so because the only way to get through is to hug the rock. This was followed by a tunnel where you have to bend over double to get through. By far the hardest part was climbing the Devils Chimney – no stairs on this one - you had to lift your right foot (or knee) to about waist height to get the first footing, so you could push yourself up to get a hand hold, and begin the 7mtr almost vertical climb. The complication is that there is barely enough room to get you first footing - the diameter of this tunnel was less than ½ metre, and it was dark so you couldn’t see the top. The girls & guys at the front of the group were scared about going up and getting stuck, so Evelyn volunteered to up first. She made it look easy ;)
Lovers Lane (left) Devils Chimney (right)
A few people then followed, and this big, burley man was having a few problems, so Evelyn had to virtually drag him up. His girlfriend, then tried to go up, but wasn’t listening to the instructions about the foothold. So she tried to just scramble up the rocks – this is impossible to do without sucker pads as the rocks are smooth, slippery, and virtually straight up. Marc was watching from the bottom, and was in hysterics at watching this womans feet move so fast, but getting absolutely nowhere ;) – imagine the speed at which a meercat moves its front paws when digging a hole, and thats close to this womans feet!!
There was then the post box (takes letters, but not parcels). You have to shimmy on your stomach, head first, to the gap, then reverse through the gap on the side, feet first, on your back. Marc is almost classed as a parcel ;)
This tour took us about 1 1/2 hours (it felt like three) and we still had another 25kms to cycle, and the downhill bits were over!!! Our next motivational check point was a cute little tea house, which offered much needed refreshment (tea & scones) and a pool! There were a couple people from the hostel there, so it was nice to sit down, chill, chat and forget about the remaining 10km home…
This last leg was ok, but a bit tedious and demoralising - it was a couple of long straight (flat:D ) roads - one was about 4km - a really long distance on a bike!
When we got back, a Braai (BBQ) was on the go, and Marc signed up to get some Ostrich steak. Marc likens this to beef - it was red, soft, succulent, and pretty tasty - and is probably better than beef as less fatty than rump. Evelyn thought it tasted of sea salt and compared it to fish! After dinner, the fire was kept going, so a few of us sat outside, and relaxed with a well earned beer and chatted trying to get over the throbbing of our sore muscles.
The next day we visited one of the ostrich farms. You learn a bit about how the farm works, and how stupid the ostriches really are!! There are various exicting facts about ostriches which are best saved for a chat with a beer. The farms are also fun, and you can feed, touch, and ride the ostriches, stand on their eggs, and get a neck massage from them (we've got some funny videos)!!
Our final stop in Oudtshoorn was a waterfall, which we opted out of on our cycle ride ;)
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