Part V: Living The Vida Ostrica
East of Cape Town and still in West Cape Province, Little Karoo is a region bordered in the south by the Outenigua and Langeberg ranges, and in the north by the Swartberg Ranges. This region is dry and sunny most of the year, and is mainly famous for one thing: ostriches(Àk³¾).
The largest town of Little Karoo, Oudtshoorn, is the place to go if you are interested in life of these large birds. Oudtshoorn itself is sedate and without too much of characters. Ostrich farming is the largest "industry" in this town. And due to its fame of ostrich farming, tourism also becomes a very large business here.
I never knew that ostriches can offer so many different usages for human enjoyment (my usual image about them are those big birds running clumsily in a circle on the African plain and bury their heads in sand when encountering danger. Maybe an impression from Disney or WB cartoons, I guess). Their feather can be made into hats and clothes; their skin can be made into purses and wallets; We can also eat their eggs and meat. One ostrich egg is 30 times the volume of a chicken egg while a ostrich steak has less than half calories that a beef steak has. Ostrich meat have became more and more popular in Taiwan restaurants these days(unfortunately, many of you in Taiwan might not even know the meat you just had last night is not beef).
We went to a ostrich farm called Highgate, where we were taught how ostriches run, mate, and hatch their eggs (both male and female ostriches take turns hatching their eggs, sort of like human beings taking care of their babies. Or is it true?). We had chance to touch and then 'stand' on eggs to test how strong they are (Though the mother ostrich looked not very happy). The most interesting part is of course ostrich riding and watch ostrich racing (see the picture with me "riding on the Big Bird"). I wasn't really too excited about ostrich riding that much. Because these birds are not really smart, they tend to only run in a circle and constantly tried to shake me down.
Then it's a tour to see how they manufacture skin and feather into all kinds of stuffs. However, I was more interested in "the special ostrich meal" offered that night.
Many people feel it is really odd to eat ostrich, so our tour guide tried to 'downplay' what's on the menu. With some nice red, white wine and sherry, and liver paste (ÃZ¨xÂæ) made from you know what, I loved this meal from the very beginning. The entree is an ostrich steak and grilled checken with some tasty sauce. There is green salad and omelette aside(guess what eggs it is). The ostrich steak tasted soft and tender, but with some starnge (but hard to detect) aftertaste. For me, it is always great to try out something new and unique(but not so for many in my tour group: they didn't even want to touch that steak. fortunately there is chicken for them). Though I still felt a little guilty to eat some animal so cute....
There are not much else to see in Oudtshoorn area. We went to see Congo Cave the next morning. It is a very huge limestone cave with some beautiful stone formation. But after seeing so many famous limestone caves all over the world, I found it's relatively unimpressive.
I guess the only thing I will remember is ostriches.