A local view

One of our goals along our journey is to settle into the area we are staying, and to be able to live as the locals do…

While staying in Oudtshoorn (the ostrich capital of the world), and volunteering at a cheetah reservation we have been able to explore the area with some new friends.  Josh is one of the animal handlers at the ranch (a 1:53xx 800 meter runner back in his day), and has been our insiders tour guide the past few days.

Laurel, Dan, and Bonnie

Josh has an awesome border collie, Bonnie.

Braai

He invited us and a few other volunteers on the ranch over for ‘braai’ which is the Afrikaans word for barbecue.

Today, he took four of us on a drive through some spectacular South African landscape to the Meiringspoort Waterfall in De Rust for some swimming, food, and relaxation.

The landscape is surreal…Oudtshoorn has some hills, receives minimal rainfall throughout the year (about 170 mm annually), and is composed of small brush and shrubbery as a result of the dry climate…  The village of De Rust is considered the “gateway” to the Klein Karoo region (semi-desert area) and is located at the foot of the Swartberg Mountain Range…an extreme difference in landscape (trees, and a mountainous region) from Oudtshoorn.

The waterfall was an amazing site in such a dehydrated area.  The water refreshing…borderline an ice bath… as this wonder is the result of mountain-top runoff…

That didn’t stop any of us from enjoying a quick swim, some cliff diving, and a great picnic…cliff jumping videos/pictures to come…