September 3, Day 11

This morning I learned the difference between a prairie dog and a meerkat. Prairie dogs are indigenous to North America, are considered rodents, and are herbivores. Meerkats are small Mongoose, more often found in the savannah areas of Africa, and are carnivores. Both live in small communities and are fun to watch.

We began our morning quite early so that we could get to the meerkat community that we would be observing before they ventured out of their dens. After being given some information about meerkats, we walked out for a while carrying chairs and blankets. We were told to sit very still and while we were able to talk, we are not supposed to make any sudden movements that would scare the meerkats off. We ended up observing a community of nine adults and three babies for 2 hours. It was quite fun watching them interact.

There is a dominant female. She mates with one male. The babies learn from watching the others in the group and are mature enough at six months to begin taking their turn at sentinel duty. The meerkats are pretty quite creatures, preferring not to attract attention to themselves. However, if they sense danger, they will screech to warn the others of their group. Unlike the prairie dogs, meerkats have black around their eyes. This is to help prevent their eyes from reflecting light that could be seen by a bird of prey. We weren't able to get very close. That's Ok since they bite and may carry rabies.  It was a fascinating few hours.

We decided we wanted to see a little bit of the town of Oudtshoorn. Specifically, we wanted to see a Feather Palace. After driving up and down a few of the streets, I looked on Google and found directions to one of the two or three remaining feather palaces. This one turned out to be pretty close to where we had been staying but down a unpaved road. After driving through some ostrich farms, we came across a beautiful sandstone building. The woman who owns the home came out to greet us after her dog alerted her that there were strangers on the property. I explained to her that we were out looking for a feather palace and she very kindly invited us in to meet her husband, who is the third generation of his family who has lived there, and to take a tour of the bed and breakfast. They converted the house to a Guest House after their sons moved on. They have done a wonderful job preserving most of the original features. The most intriguing thing was a chandelier made of carved ostrich eggs.

Denis wanted to go back to the town and see if there was anything else we might have missed. We drove around a little bit when it became apparent that these little South African towns are not like the cute little towns on the West Coast with interesting restaurants and boutique shops. Denis turned down a street. Pretty quickly, the road became potholes and I knew immediately that we shouldn't be there. I asked him to turn around but Google sent us a different way and Denis thought we should trust Google. However, it became more apparent as we drove in that we really should not be there. We had been warned about not going to neighborhoods where we would stand out as being more affluent than the residents. I finally convinced him to make a U-turn and we headed out of town. Whew!

We followed the garden route down to the ocean. It was more driving through mountains and mountain passes. It feels like we've had enough of that.

We checked into our room which is right on the ocean. The host offered us a glass of wine immediately upon checking in. I must have looked like I needed it after coming across the last mountain pass. 

One of the interesting things about most of the places we've stayed is that they don't have heated bedrooms. There is still a lot of heating small living rooms with fireplaces. However, they have air conditioning (mini-splits) for the summer. We've gotten used to heated bed pads for the warmth. It makes the bed nice and cozy until I need to get up in the middle of the night and use the bathroom.

On one of our stops, we picked up some honeycomb candy. It looked a lot like the sponge candy that we get in Buffalo. Of course, I needed to buy some. Big disappointment. It is not at all soft and melt-in-your-mouth like the sponge candy I grew up on. After having a piece of this. The rest went in the trash.

I've spent quite a bit of time today, gazing out at the ocean. Still, no whales ☹️

September 2, Day 10

Another beautiful sunny morning with the promise of temperatures being much warmer than the past few days. Here is the view from our room's balcony.

After a lovely breakfast in the dining room, we were off, but not before taking the small package of rusks along with us for a snack. Nearly everywhere we go, there is coffee service in our room and a package of rusks, a pre-breakfast snack.

We continued east on R62, driving through more scenic mountains and mountain passes. We are in the Little Karoo region of South Africa. It is a semi-arid desert area and reminds us a lot of our travels in Sicily and the areas around Las Vegas. 

Aside from the rest stops where you can buy drinks and lunch, there are little picnic areas along R62. No toilets, just a table and some seats, and if you're lucky a tree or a canopy to shade you.

Our first stop was in Ladismith. We had been told that much of the South African cheese is produced in Ladismith so we wanted to stop and buy some. It was also about time for a bathroom break. We bought some cheese at one of the cheese places which was next door to a small Cafe. We decided to take a break and order a meat pie, which are very ubiquitous in these parts. I spotted two people drinking what I thought were tall glasses of fruit juices. We were told they were milkshakes. Denis decided to try a lime milkshake. After this stop, we didn't really need lunch. 

Our next stop was a town called Calitzdorp. It is now for ruby wines, known as port in Portugal. We had been recommended to two different stops. De Krans, where we might have had a lovely lunch had we been hungry, was our first stop. We tasted a number of wines and had a really lovely time chatting with the wine pourer.

The second stop was down the street at Boplaas. They produce wine, ruby wines, and spirits. We tasted all of their ports and Denis walked away with a bottle of their 2018 vintage for $20! We hope to be able to get it home. 

Onto Oudtshoorn, where we will be staying for the night. The primary reason for coming here is an early morning meerkat tour (more about that tomorrow). We arrived early enough to take an Ostrich Farm tour. It wasn't high in my list of things to do but its proximity to DeZeeko and the time we had before dinner made it more attractive. 

The farm has raised ostrich for three generations. They farm them for meat, fat, which is used in beauty products, leather, used primary in purses and belts, and feathers. People begin raising ostriches in the 1860s, primarily for the feathers. This area became the ostrich capital of the world producing 80 to 90% of all the world's ostrich feathers. There were ostrich barons who built ostrich palaces. After World War II, the ostrich feather industry collapsed. The farmers began to pivot to providing meat and leather. It took a while but today, once again 80 to 90% of all ostrich products come from South Africa. 

Of course, one of the things to do is feed the ostriches. We complied. 

  

First we fed the ostriches, later they fed us. How could we miss having ostrich filet and ostrich Bobotie? 

We have another lovely view from our room. I sat on the porch writing this and being seranaded by birds as the sun went down (can you find the small orange dot?)

Our last activity for the day was star gazing. We went out with an amateur astronomer who pointed out various star clusters and constellations. We also got a good look at Saturn and its rings. It is a bit hazy so slightly disappointing given how far out we are. Still, star gazing is always a wonderment.