So, it has been a couple of days since the last blog post, and Christine and I have had quite a few adventures. We're now spending our last night in the Western Cape region, relaxing in the hotel lounge listening to Sarah McLachlan.
Yesterday, Christine and I spent the day in Oudtshoorn, ostrich capital of South Africa, and the world. But instead of doing the usual tourist activity of visiting an ostrich farm and participating in the somewhat strange activity of ostrich riding, we decided to hit up two other town attractions, the Cango Caves and the Cango Wildlife Ranch. The caves were awesome, and it was rather amazing. What was even more entertaining was the absolute fascination South Africans have for visitors with American accents. We talked to several different people on our tour, just on the basis of our unusual accents.
But even better, and more to the point of my post, was the visit to the wildlife ranch. It's a small wildlife rescue with a variety of animals in enclosures, and partipates in repopulating the cheetah in Africa. On the first part of the tour, I was excited to see some pretty basic birds and pygmy hippos. But then came the star attractions, the big cats, three adorable tiger cubs, several cheetah, lions and leopards. And for an additional fee, one could enter the cheetah enclosure to pet the hand raised tame cheetahs. Of course Christine and I couldn't resist, even though it was somewhat dangerous and would never ever be allowed in the prudish US. The rationale was this: funds went to support the cheetah foundation. So danger of being mauled be damned, we went in and pet the big cats. And it was awesome, the cheetah I pet rolled over and wanted me to rub his belly, although I was told explicitly not to do that. Hopefully I can post the video, to prove the cats were not tranquilized and were rather frisky.
Post our Karoo adventures, we drove down to the Garden Route, which is akin to California's PCH. Its a dramatic highway running along the Indian Ocean lined with some very nice little towns. Our big adventure was doing whale watching along the coast, where the Southern Right Whales are doing their annual migration. Got some good shots of a mother and newborn calf swimming around, as well as a very friendly Minke whale. Very cool things indeed.
Next up, heading to the Kwazulu-Natal state for our first safari adventures. It'll be difficult to leave the Western Cape though. Perhaps I'll just settle down, buy a nice ocean view home in the town of Knysna, and kick back in South Africa for a few years. Coastal home prices are downright reasonable here. It's the perfect place for a summer home, if it only weren't a 22 hour flight time away...
- Joe
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