The Ostrich has left its mark

To answer the allusive question of where I have been - 2 words: Cape Town! Nice, ocean, ahhhhh – more stories to come of adventures there. There is a story even getting to Cape Town which involves some funny big birds…..and yes, the more I look at them, the more I think this is where the big yellow Sesame Street bird comes from.

On the way down to Cape Town we made a fun ostrich pit stop. Needed to learn more about these funny creatures we kept seeing in farms by the thousands. We took the tour, checking out the babies (they are 1 month old in the pictures – have rough raffia like “fur”, embarrassing bald spots on their middle, and they have no idea if they are a boy or a girl – they don’t find out until they are 14 to 16 months old, which, by the way, is the best time to kill them for meat).

As the tour continues, you get to feed the ostrich. What a treat! You put maize (corn) in your hand, and these 3 big huge ostrich beast of creatures peck it “so nicely” out of your hand – yeah right. The one bird ate my whole hand! Yes, I'm not kidding ....... we have the picture to prove it – you might need to zoom in, but for real, it really put my whole hand, fingers and all, into its mouth! …… and ate part of my skin as well. Didn’t seem to phase our guide and I had to ask for some serviettes (napkins) so that the dripping blood would not get on my clothes. Dude.

Next site: ostrich eggs in the hut. You can even stand on them. Our guide had a big prickly stick to wave at the nesting ostrich just in case she (the ostich, not me!) got a little feisty!

Moving on……..our guide shows us, "Here is the neck of the ostrich, here are the eyelids, the legs…….. Who wants to sit on one?” Kel and I looked at each other and Kel volunteered me to go first. A little apprehensive, but ready for adventure, I climbed the stairs, and upon the ostrich I sat! It’s not like riding a horse, or any other animal for that matter, but it was quite fun.

Now, “Who wants to RIDE the ostrich?” Again, I was the first to go and let’s just say Kelly’s video tops the animal riding. Yeah, it really was that fun! The workers there did an ostrich race and there is a picture of the winning bird. They did a tad bit better of staying on those fickle creatures.....and making them go fast, real fast.

Quite a fun stop on the way to Cape Town!

The soon-to-be famous Kelly riding Ostrich video:


Ostrich farm pictures: