Day 12 Mossel Bay and Oudsthoorn by Simi

We checked out of our apartment and headed for breakfast at Oskar’s. The weather was pretty grey, windy and wet so actually it made it quite easy to leave.

Our next destination is Oudtshoorn- not strictly on the garden route but
Worth the detour we thought/ hoped! .90% of all ostriches worldwide live in South Africa. Dubbed the "ostrich capital of the world", Oudtshoorn is known for its ostrich-feather boom. With approximately 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest town in the Klein Karoo region. The town's economy is primarily reliant on the ostrich farming and tourism industries.

It was a big drive though 4.5 hours so we decided to take our time and stop at Mossel Bay to take in the World’s longest over the ocean zip line… quite a mouth ful.. but worth the stop!

Alas ( or maybe secretly there was a little relief from some of us. ) the zip wire was shut due to the wind! Whilst we were there at least 3 other parties turned up too and also looked a mixture of relieved and disappointed!

It would add quite a bit of time to go back but we will see how it goes and what the weather is like.

We then pressed onto our country lodge through the mountain pass- spotting dacies, baboons , ostriches and even elephants and zebras ( they were on a game reserve).
We arrived around 530 to our accommodation and our welcome was incredibly endearing . Our “cottage” was palatial with a huge sitting room with a big roaring fire as a centre piece and then 4 bedrooms with its own massive bathroom and jacuzzi each!!!

The host and her employee could not do enough to help us- we had a cup of tea next to the roaring fire and were given the menu to choose our food. There was no one else staying and they had already told us the vegetarian options they had made especially so we didn’t want to offend so we played games and chilled for the evening.Read more