After getting in three weeks of relaxation in Cape Town it was once again time to hit the road. My first stop heading northeast along the southern coast of South Africa was an interesting town called Oudtshoorn.

The Cango Caves
One of the major attraction in Oudtshoorn are some caves just outside of town. Along with about forty other people, I went on a tour of the caves which are quite beautiful. The first chamber we went into was the biggest -- bigger than an average-sized (Western) house, I believe. It had some large "drip formations" that looked organ pipes (which was, in fact, the name of the formation). There were also numerous stalagtites (from the ceiling) and stalagmites (from the floor), including one really tall stalagmite which was, for some reason, called Cleopatra.

The next chamber we went into had a number of columns, where stalagtites and stalagmits had joined each other. There was even a double column -- two columns right next to each other which had merged together. The columns were very weird-looking, but beautiful in their own way and, unfortunately, nearly impossible to describe. The dripping that somehow formed the columns had created repeating patterns on their surfaces that made the columns look carved. There was also a stalagmite that was thick, and which reminded me of a rounded spiral of soft-serve ice cream. The caves looked like a sort of Dr. Seuss fantasy land, only all in white rather than in bright colors.

On the Way to the Ostich Farm
After visiting the caves, my next stop, travelling via bicycle, was an Ostrich Farm. The landscapes along the way were beautiful, but they alone were not interesting enough to warrant mention in my blog. The truly interesting part of the ride was as follows:

As I was riding I saw a car on the other side of the road suddenly move to the center of the road for no apparent reason - for a second it seemed like the car was coming at me. Quickly, however, it went back into its own lane. As I got closer to where the car had been I realized that the driver's seemingly irrational behavior had actually been due to the presence of a long, dirty-yellowish colored snake in the middle of the road. So, snakes being interesting and me not having seen many of them on this trip, I naturally stopped to take a phote. Before I got my camera completely out and ready, though, another car dove by it and the snake was not pleased. It reared up, flared out its hood and struck at the air where the car had just been. It then quickly slithered away into the bush on the othe side of the road.

This is what I was thinking as all this was going on: Wow! Cool! It must be a cobra. I wonder how poisonous it is? I didn't know snakes could move that quickly. Darn, its disappearing into the bush -- I'm not going to be able to get a picture of it. I'm glad it didn't come in my direction, because if it had... Maybe stopping to take a photo of a potenitally deadly snake was not really a smart thing to do...

I later was able to identify the snake as a Cape Cobra, which is indeed very poisonous. More poisonous even than the black mamba, which I had previously thought was the most deadly snake in the area.

The Ostich Farm
Oudtshoorn is famous for its ostriches and a visit to an ostrich farm is pretty much mandatory for all travellers who stop in the town. My tour of the ostrich farm was quite fun. The three of us on my tour learned a lot about ostriches, saw a male doing a mating dance, had the ostriches peck at our hands (which hurt more than our guides said it would), stood on ostrich eggs, learned what to do if attacked by an ostrich (lie down and play dead) or emu (stand up as tall as possible), stood on ostrich eggs (no, they didn't break), see an ostrich race, and most fun of all, ride an ostrich. Ostriches were not designed to be ridden. Their backs are bumpy and uncomfortable. To ride an ostrich, you sit on its back with its wings over your legs and you lean back holding onto the wings, bracing yourself with your legs around its front. The entire time I was on the ostich I felt like I was about to fall off. All told, it was one of the most ridiculous, fun, and scary experiences I have ever had. It took quite a few minutes after I had gotten off the bird before I could stop laughing.

Meerkats
The day after my caving, snake, and ostrich farm adventures I woke up before the sun. At first light I was seated before a meerkat burrow on an ostrich farm (not the same one as the previous day) listening to Grant, "The Meerkat Man" talk about meerkats and waiting for them to emerge from their home with the rising sun. There was a chill in the air until the sun rose above the distant mountains bathing the earth in soft warmth and light. The sun was up and the chill had disappated, but the meerkats were still snugly underground unlike the birds we heard singing and saw flying or perched on shrubs; unlike the stiped mouse scurrying; unlike the peacefully strolling springbok and quickly running steenbok in the distance. Also present were the ostriches on the farm walking, eating, a male "dancing" to attract an unimpressed female.

The sun rose higher and there five of us waited silent and still for the meerkats to emerge. The ait would have been boring, but Grant seemed to everything about meerkats and was giving us quite an interesting education.

And then -- a head peeked out of the burrow and looked around. Soon the first meerkat scampered out of the burrow, stood up using his tail for balance, continued looking around, his belly to the sun to warm him up. He looked back down into the burrow a few times and then another meerkat came up. Over about the next ten minutes all the meerkats emerged one by one until all eight adults were out of the burrow. As each emerged it stood up, facing the sun, warming itself. One by one, the meerkats went down on all fours and ran into the bush to forage for breakfast. It was a bit of a disappointment when the last meerkat left the burrow area -- since no one had stayed to babysit it meant the new babies, only two weeks old, would, for at least one more day, stay in the burrow.

We followed the meerkats a short way over to where they were foraging. sometimes one would stand out on a rise, standing guard. When there was no meerkat on the rise, every now and then, quite frequently, on or two would stand up on watch, look around for a few seconds, and then go back to foraging. Too soon, the meerkats disappeared over the rise and our viewing time was over.