Cango Caves – Ostrich Farm

The Cango Caves are a place of great natural beauty. The temperature in the Cango Caves is a warm and humid 18 degrees C. Ample lighting makes uneven pathways and stairs easy to negotiate, and provides opportunities for memorable photographs. The Cango Caves lie in the Swartberg Mountain Range in a limestone belt measuring 0.5 km in width and almost 16 km in length. The limestone layer was formed by the deposit of ‘oolites’ which are loosely-bound calcium carbonate crystals. Due to the age of the limestone (750 million years) no fossils have been found. This part of the continent was once below the ocean. As the continent rose and upliftment occurred, the Little Karoo finally found itself above the water level. The caves only started to form some 20 million years ago, however, when the water level dropped to such an extent that the ground water could start to seep into the limestone. As the water seeped into the ground, it absorbed carbon dioxide from the decaying plant and animal matter in the soil and this made it fairly acidic. As it seeped into the limestone, cavities were created that filled with water. Rivers also formed on the surface and cut deeply enough into the limestone to allow them to reach the level of the water pockets. This caused the water to flow out about 4 million years ago. The cave was then, for the first time, exposed to air and the speleothems or cave formations could begin forming.

Bruce was not feeling very well today. We drove through countryside with ostrich, springbok farms. We traveled to the Cango Caves where Bruce had to leave after a short while. What we did see of the caves was spectacular. We then went on to the Cango Wildlife Ranch where we enjoyed seeing a wide variety of animals, many of which are endangered species due to black market sale of wild meat and the use of body parts for medicinal purposes. We saw crocodiles, pigmy hippos, storks, Bengal baby tigers, cheetah, meerkat. Our next stop was at an Ostrich farm where we had a great lunch of ostrich steak, salad, corn fritters and wine. We learned more about ostrich breeding and that ostriches are not particularly smart. Each eye weighs 60 gm while their brain weighs 40 gm. We got to hold very heavy ostrich eggs (equivalent to 24 hen’s eggs). We were then off across the Outeniqua Mountain pass (very scenic) through George and on to Knysna (silent K) where we spent two nights at a beautiful hotel.

It was a very hot day, up to 34 C. We were told to drink lots and lots of water. I loved the ostrich steak! Bruce started feeling better by the end of the day. We stayed two nights at the Knysna Quays Hotel on the harbour – beautiful hotel!