Travel to Oudtshoorn

fascinating farming and impressive caves

Oudtshoorn is located in the Little Karoo area of the Western Cape.

Set at the heart of this largely arid area, the substantial and bustling town of Oudtshoorn represents quite a contrast to the more typical sleepy Karoo villages.

In the early 1900s this remote spot incredibly managed to establish itself as the worldwide epicentre for ostrich farming. Vast fortunes were made from the fashionable feathers and lavish stone mansions, known locally as “ostrich palaces”, were constructed both in the town and on the surrounding farms.

Most of these magnificent mansions still stand today and many are in good repair. If you have an interest in history and architecture, then touring around looking for these places (as well as dreaming about buying one for yourself) can be a really pleasant diversion. Most of the owners will likely welcome you in for a look around as well if you ask.

Ostriches continue to be raised in this area, although these days the focus is more on their low cholesterol meat. But the place is obviously doing okay for itself, there’s a lot going on here.

Unfortunately, Oudtshoorn is quite an obvious place to visit and does feel rather touristy in parts, with some really tacky activities like ‘swimming with crocodiles’ and ‘ostrich riding’ (which breaks their bones, meaning they have to be shot immediately afterwards).

The other major attraction is the Cango Caves, an impressive subterranean world which lies 20 km to the north of town. Although this place is also very much open to large bus tours, if you get on the more active tour (you have to be able to squeeze through some pretty narrow test holes to prove you are slim enough!), then this will get you much deeper into the system and away from the goofy tours.

One of our favourite things to do in this area is book a table early in the evening on the verandah of the old Queen’s Hotel in the middle of town, order ostrich steaks and a bottle of the local wine and watch the world pass by along the main Baron van Reede Street below.

There is also a meerkat interaction experience at a little place called De Zeekoe Guest Farm, but since we prefer to do this activity in wilder areas like Tswalu and Makgadikgadi we have not properly investigated it yet.

Because Oudtshoorn can get a little busy with tourists, we do tend to more often stay in the outlying areas of Calitzdorp to the east or Prince Albert over in the Great Karoo, either visiting the town on day trips or passing through on the way south and east.

When we do include stops in this area we tend to first look at options in the pretty village of Schoemanshoek, which lies 12 km to the north of the town, most of which are still owned and operated by the Schoeman family themselves (who also own a few ostrich palaces of their own).

the best accommodation is in the rural areas to the north