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We woke up a little later today, showered and dressed before heading over to the main house to make breakfast. We decided to go for scrambled eggs on toast this morning along with the usual morniing brew. We cleared up our mess, unlike the rest of the guests and headed back to collect our things. We drove to Buffelsdrift Game Reserve to book a game drive which we made for later that afternoon. Given we had time to kill we headed to Highgate Ostrich farm where we were met by the campest tour guide in the world. He was fantastic! He showed us the products which could be made from the Ostriches and their feathers and eggs before showing us the incubation and feeding areas. After feeding them we headed off to the riding area and we had to give our guide a lift over to the site. He spoke to us about England and about his travels in Germany...not much of a surprise he found the germans as military and standoffish as Emily had found them the year before! We arrived at the nesting site and visited two breeding ostriches, where we discused the eggs and were allowed to stand on them without breaking them. We were both amazed at an American family who seemed to have lots of broken bones and brusies tell others in the group that dad had flipped a buggy he was driving causing the youngest child to be thrown from the vehicle and breaking his bones! The manner in which he told everyone was with great pride but also with great disgust to us 2!
We came out of the nesting area and drove to the riding area where we were told that only 4 people could ride and 4 could sit on the ostriches. Being adults, Emily and Clare decided to let the children ride instead of themselves but this quickly was not the case when the American family told the guide he purposely booked for all his children to ride - even the one with broken bones! The other kids in the group looked disappointed and finally the guide told us we could all ride if we wished and so we entered the pen where Clare decided to show off her riding skills in public! We asked about the possibility of racing the birds but were told it was too unsafe...but we could watch other skilled people race them instead. We watched the race and then headed off back to the farm for a spot of lunch! Much to Clares astonishment, they had run out of ostrich meat for the sandwiches and salads and so we chose something else instead! After this we drove back into Oudtshoorn for our game drive.
We arrived at the game reserve in plenty of time and were greeted by our guide and scrambled aboard the truck. Another fellow passenger from Ireland travelled with us, although he wasn't very talkative! We initially found it quite difficult to spot the animals but quickly came across Eland and Giraffes in the bush. We soon saw another van travelling in the other direction and they guided us to some Rhino and Buffalo nearby. The ranger kept the engine running as one buffalo was eyeing up the truck and coming quite close for his liking! Clare also found her skill for spotting more male appendages on the animals! We carried on and stopped for a drink and had the opportunity to taste some of the plants which we could eat such as wild garlic. Off we went again and spotted Zebra, Springbok, Hippo's and wildebeest. We drove to the top of a mountain and were amazed at our guides x ray vision as he was able to spot animals behind hills and in valleys which we were unable to! En route Clare decided she needed a pit stop and so left the truck for a toilet break in the bush! We ended our drive at the waterhole just as it began to be getting a little cold and we were glad to get back into Karen and walm up a little!
We set off back into Oudtshoorn and decided to stop at a favourite shop - Mr Price. An old guy guided us into our parking space at the side of the road although we didn't need it! We bought Lisa a little number as a prezzie and then decided to find somewhere nice to eat our supper that evening. As we left the shop, the old guy who guided us in the parking space was stood by our car holding his hand out to Emily for money. Emily refused and got into the car. We closed the door but the man proceeded to walk to the side of the car with his hand out for money. Emily kept shaking her head as Clare demanded she locked the doors. Finally,the old guy pointed at them both and made a gesture with his fingers across his neck which scared Clare slightly. Emily reversed the car as far as possible and drove around the old guy and back into town!
We continued into town and spotted a nice restaurant which looked nice for tea. We drove round the block and found somewhere to park (without help) and went to eat. Clare finally got her ostrich and Emily had steak. We both had a huge pudding while entertaining the dogs which lived there! Rolling out of the restaurant...we headed back to the car and drove to the cottage. Emily was quite relieved not to find anymore visitors waiting to greet them and we settled down into bed for another early night!
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