December 27 - Oudtshoorn Ostrich!

Across the street from Amber Lagoon is a farm and their only neighbors for miles around. Ernie (farmer senior) and Luhan his son raise about 800 ostrich, cattle, sheep, clover and somehow make a living in this wonderful but harsh land. We went out with Luhan to collect ostrich eggs one afternoon and toured the ostrich sites. As you can see by the photos both the young and the grown ostrich can be quite cute.

Ostrich facts:
Each egg is the equivalent of 24 chicken eggs.
You can actually stand on an ostrich egg
A female will lay about 43 eggs a year
Eggs take about 42 days to hatch
At this particular farm they incubate most of their eggs but allow about five breeding pairs to hatch their own.
An ostrich can run 60km an hour for up to 4 km
Their beaks are not their main weapon, but their prehistoric looking legs with one claw will do some serious damage when they kick you.
Ostrich farming is quite the process, quite intensive


Duncan














Check out the size of that egg!


















Andrea and a week old baby ostrich