We had a bright and early rise today to head out on our morning safari drive. Our cameras were vigorously clicking as we caught sight of zebras, elands, kudu, gemsbok, impala, gnus, springbok, ostriches, giraffes and elephants. The early start built up quite the appetite for the four of us, so we thoroughly enjoyed the extensive buffet breakfast in the restaurant of the Game Lodge. We then got a tour of the other facilities on the grounds, including the reptile house filled with snakes (most with poisonous venom) and an outdoor crocodile pit, along with an enclosure housing several cheetahs. These majestic cats are endangered and while wild cheetahs’ life span is an average of nine years, those in captivity can live for up to twenty-nine, since they are fed rather than forced to hunt, their teeth are kept in check to remain strong and are tended to if need be.
The next stop of the day was an ostrich farm in the town of Oudtshoorn. The drive to reach our destination was spectacular, including a stretch of mountainous road known as the Robinson Pass. Once at the ostrich farm, we took a quick tour and had a chance to interact with the ostriches, which surprisingly are quite characters! We watched a jockey ride one around the pasture (both highly impressive and hilarious at the same time) and I got a chance to feed them – in a really interesting way (photo posted soon).
From the farm we made our way to Cango Caves to do an hour-long tour in the depths of caves. It was absolutely phenomenal – I wasn’t expecting to be so blown away by how impressive, massive and beautiful it was inside. At one moment, our tour guide was attempting to illustrate what a certain chamber of the cave looked like to its first discoverer and turned off all the walkway lights to bring us into total darkness. One chamber was particularly large and had quite the amazing acoustics; our guide informed us that concerts and choir performances used to be held there. He asked the crowd if anyone would like to demonstrate the powerful acoustic quality and my friend Sarah, a singer, bravely stepped forward to volunteer. Everyone quieted down while her soprano voice beautifully belted out a melody from Phantom of the Opera. She definitely proved the point!
Our day ended on arrival to the hostel we were spending the night called the Backpacker’s Paradise. It was quite aptly named – for a hostel, the accommodations were very nice; it had a feel of summer camp. They even provided a scrumptious dinner and breakfast was included the following morning. We had ostrich for dinner (appropriately themed after our day), which wasn’t half-bad and tasted semi-similar to steak. We are certainly not going hungry on this trip!
Overall, a variety-filled day!
xo Em
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