Experience Little Karoo

Little Karoo has an ostrich capital – Oudtshoorn. You may know it, one of the most famous stops along the Garden Route. Oudtshoorn became rich by breeding a special flightless bird, the ostrich.

But why exactly ostriches? This bird has incredibly beautiful feathers, these feathers were in fashion worldwide in the nineteenth century. As you have read, the Karoo is extremely dry, despite this driest the soil is very fertile. This is also the only place in South Africa where the food of the ostrich grows: alfalfa. Oudtshoorn made clever and eager use of this, they became filthy rich in a short time. The ostrich farmers also showed off a lot, they built real feather palaces for themselves. On some farms the houses from this period can still be seen, these are richly decorated houses, also called feather palaces. The ostrich fashion is already on its way out, so Oudtshoorn mainly exports ostrich meat, eggs and leather.

For all vegetarians, scroll down to the next paragraph. The meat of the ostrich is so tender that you hardly need a knife to get through it, this juicy piece of steak is therefore very popular with locals and meat lovers all over the world. Must try if you are staying in Oudtshoorn.