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7th July, Oudtshoom, "You gotta be kidding me I'd rather ride a frickin Ostrich!"
Despite our best intentions to wake early and decide when and where our next days travel would take us, we ended up getting up and ready for just before midday. That is with the exception of James who once again woke early had a quick look round Mossel Bay's shipping museum before buying breakfast for the rest of us. Eggs and toast behind us we decided to visit Oudtshoom a place off the garden route which offered a few interesting activities, namely: Ostrich riding, cheetah parks, and the Congo caves all of which we decided we would try and do before the sunlight defeated us. Furthermore we had grown fond of our Mossel Bay bachelor pad and decided we would return to Mossel Bay and stay another night after Oudtshoom. This meant that we were losing more ground on Duncan and Tyler and we had a lot of miles to do in the days remaining.
It was Scott's turn to drive and luckily for him due to our 2 night stop over he was able to see out the back window of the car a luxury that Silver and I were not afforded. The drive took a couple of hours and was a very enjoyable across weaving through mountain passes and valley roads. Our first stop we made was at the first Ostrich farm we saw that offered Ostrich riding. The farm was called Chandelier Ostrich Ranch - a lovely little farm tucked away from the main road which boasted 4 star accommodation as well as a restaurant and obviously the Ostriches. It was upon arrival that Canadian Chris told us about his dislike of animals. Everything ranging from bugs and beetles to cats and dogs he wasn't a fan, so the prospect of mounting an Ostrich really didn't sit well with him.
We entered the farm and requested an Ostrich ride and we handed over the 30 Rand (3 quid) it cost to take part - Chris took a lot of persuading! From a distance the birds didn't look that big, so much so we were left feeling a bit disappointed. The closer we got to the pen where they were being held however the bigger they grew with them towering above us when we eventually got side by side. There were the five of us plus a South African dad and his young son on a motorcycle weekend from Port Elizabeth there. Now the process of riding an Ostrich goes a little something like this…. Firstly the workers on the farm would chase and catch an ostrich by the neck which looked quite an uncomfortable experience for the ostrich. Then the workers would slip a pillow case over its head which caused the ostrich to calm down and stop what it was doing. They then walked it over to a wooden fence where the would be rider would climb and hoist themselves across to sit on the back of the ostrich with their legs tucked underneath and their hands gripping on top of the wings. The workers once satisfied the rider is perched right and suitably leant backwards would remove the pillowcase and the ostrich would spark into action running round in a crazy erratic fashion around the pen until the rider either fell off or dismounted gracefully!
On entering the pen Chris immediately went to the to of the wooden stand, where the other would watch the rider try and stay on, and hid behind the rest of us ultimately declining to try and ride. Our guide to ostrich riding was a confident African man who told us that they could reach speeds of up to 40km/h, hence why they only let us ride in the pen (for now), that riding an ostrich was at our own risk, and finishing by telling us that the animals are really stupid and don't have a clue what is going on around them. Scott full of confidence went first and mounted well. His bird set off and he clung on tight…a little too tight! He started to slip quite soon into the ride and was falling sideways. We were instructed to slip off the back of the bird if we felt like we were going to fall; Scott however hung on so tight that when he fell off the side of the ostrich he almost brought the bird down on top of himself! Instead the bird remained on his feet and Scott hit the floor hard and everyone thought he was going to get trampled as the ostrich lifted its powerful leg in Scott's direction - good job the boys quick! His second effort was much better and he stayed on a good 30 seconds before dismounting. I was second to go and I got on no problem. The ostrich took off in similar fashion but I forgot to lean back meaning when the ostrich slowed down I got propelled forwards and ended up leapfrogging the ostrich with its lanky neck passing through my legs. The bird was thoroughly pissed off but they gave me another try and this time similarly to Scott I had a smooth ride. Silver's attempts were similar but his bird shot off in the direction of the other 3 birds in the pen meaning when Silver fell off he was greeted with 3 stampeding ostriches running right at him oblivious to the Zambian man who was in their path. James let onto us before riding that there was in fact near his hometown a annual ostrich festival where the main event is ostrich racing. He did say he had never ridden himself but on viewing his accomplished efforts in that pen I would say he was definitely not a novice!
After we all had a ride our guide offered to show us a race between two of the workers. The five of placed our bets (1st round of drinks later that night) on either the yellow or the green shirted rider. The yellow rider smashed it meaning the drinks were on Silver and I. Afterwards Silver asked if we could race and our guide reluctantly agreed to let us again all at our own risk. Scott and Silver took up the offer and chose their respective rides. Now the result of the race was very much debated, and the race was caught in full on video by yours truly. Silver came flying out the blocks and was first to the end before falling off, whilst Scott was second to the end but he turne3d his around and went back to the pen which he claimed was the pre-agreed race route Find the video on flickr and you can decide!
All Ostriched out we got back into the flew moon and drove to our next stop the Congo Caves. The Congo Caves consist of an extensive system of tunnels and chambers which stretch for over four kilometres, with only about a quarter of this is open to visitors the rest saved for scientific study. On arrival we had the choice of doing the quick tour or the adventure tour, with the adventure tour only being advised if you aren't claustrophobic. We of course chose the adventure tour and we were so glad we did. The initial tour was very informative but without the climbing, sliding, and in Chris's case slipping the tour would have been a bit of a bust. I'm not much for caves or rock climbing but I thoroughly enjoyed tackling the various cave formations and it wasn't straightforward! The guide informed us that there was cave wildlife most notably bats. This was followed by Chris coming out with another great one liner "you gotta be kidding me right now; I'd rather ride a frickin ostrich!" It turned out bats were number one on the list of animals he wasn't fond of - very funny!
After the standard tour we descended down more than 200 steps which led to a steep ladder which when climbed brought you to the runnel of love - so called because the gap is rather tight and low meaning the walls give you a loving squeeze as you pass through sideways. Our tour guide told us of a rather stubborn South African lady who was a little of the large side yet convinced she could fit through the tunnel only to get stuck. She was there for 11 hours before the emergency services finally got her free! The tunnel of love led to ice chamber which contained a shelf stone ledge which indicated the various water levels throughout the millions of years the caves had been formed. From the chamber we ascended to a level above through a hexagonally shaped hole in the shelf stone known as the coffin for obvious reasons. This hole led us into the devil's workshop - it was at this point the five of us enquired why the names of the various elements of the cave were given such ominous sounding names and we said we would prefer them to be called Rainbow Avenue, or the cuddly bunny's workshop! The highlight of the devil's workshop was the devil's chimney the hardest of all the features to negotiate as it required a significant amount of physical effort to pull yourself up a small smooth opening in the cave. The opening was so small that on entering the chamber where it was located none of our tour group even saw it! When the guide told us where we were going we seriously thought she was joking until she shoved the first of our group up the small whole! And directed them with her flashlight! Just before arriving at the chimney Chris suffered an unfortunate fall losing both feet simultaneously due to the slippery conditions caused by the 90% humidity ultimately leading him to hurt both his wrist but still end up in a fit of laughter of course accompanied by the four of us.
The chimney was followed by the postbox the smallest of the holes we had to squeeze through. The gap measured 27cm high and we were required to army crawl to the postbox where we were supposed to slide down preferably on our front. Scott, James and I negotiated the postbox with ease with the other two making harder work of it. Silver's was not entirely his fault, as he put it God blessed the black man with a rather considerable backside which was not designed to squeeze through 27cm small gaps. When Silver attempted to slide he got stuck at the point when he got to his bum. Chris however dwarfed Silver's struggle by deciding to crawl through on his back meaning when he went to slide down he was on his back. This meant when squeezing through the hole he couldn't see where he was going and our guide was barking orders at him to turn around and comedown like everyone else. This caused all five of us to again collapse into laughter with Chris shouting "I'm too committed to change!" This concluded our time in Oudtshoom with all of us deciding to give the cheetah park a miss as it was getting late and we wanted to watch Germany versus Spain which was showing later that evening.
We watched the game in a local bar called Trawlers. The place was a peculiar biker bar, and it seemed like everybody knew everybody in the bar. The strangest aspect about the place was a tradition of when the barman rang the bell drinkers would go to the bar and receive a shot in a test tube down the shot then smash the test tube on the nearest table - we learnt of this when shards of plastic flew past our heads after the bell rang! Spain's 1-0 was celebrated by 4 of the 5 of us with Chris having a German mother being a little disappointed at the result. After the game we crossed the road and spent the rest of the night playing bulls*** pyramid at an Irish bar called Patricks -original! As tends to be the norm now on the road trip we drank the night away and ended up more than merry. On the walk home though we stumbled across a restaurant that was closed which happened to have a trampoline on the premises - uh oh! 5 grown men + alcohol + trampoline = disaster! The trampoline had protective netting around it with the designed intension to be to stop people falling off the trampoline…So we bounced away clearly enjoying ourselves a little too much, when all of a sudden Scott flew across the trampoline in my general direction. Now Scott claims he was pushed others claim he just drunkenly catapulted his way across - either way he flew into me resulting in the two of us crashing backwards through the netting and landing on a nearby picnic bench. I was on the bottom with Scott landing sat on my lap. Needless to say I came off worse with a considerable scrap on my back and a rather bruised spine (even my arse was bleeding!) - That's what you get for going on a trampoline drunk I guess. After a few attempts to stem the flow I eventually gave up and we all retired to bed ready for the journey ahead tomorrow.
Daniel, Silver, Scott, James & Chris xxx
- comments
Di (Dan's Mum) Another great read Dan - sounds like loads od fun! You do get into some scraps! Drink is again the underlying theme - bet you bled alcholol not blood. Carry on having a good time - Bredon will be so tame and boring after your adventures. mum x
GA GA & Nan Another splendid account of your exploits what a load of memories you will have to look back on when your travels reach there end.Look forward to more news Luv G&N
Martin (Dan's Dad) Another journal that had me chuckling. How many times have I told you to be careful on trampolines in the past! Lucky you only ended up with a bruised backside! Dad x
skips how funny!!! literally cracking up to myself! :) xxx
Paul (scotts Dad) Fabulous read Dan, you are a bunch of loons! stay safe x
Makasa (from zambia) LOL! People at the office are thinking am going nuts.... guyz, your beers are still in the fridge. You promised to finish them before leaving Zambia.