Oudtshoorn is a town in the Klein Karoo area of South Africa’s Western Cape. It’s known for its ostrich farms and rests along the Route 62 wine route. The central C.P. Nel Museum traces the ostrich-feather boom era and houses a working synagogue.
The nearby Cango Wildlife Ranch is a conservation park offering animal petting. To the north, the Cango Caves are a 20-million-year-old network of limestone chambers.
The towns of Oudtshoorn and De Rust are in the Klein Karoo between the Swartberg and Outeniqua mountains. Oudtshoorn is the ostrich capital of the world. The world’s biggest bird is just one of the many attractions in this area of exceptional contrasts and natural beauty. The region is home to the spectacular Cango Caves, Africa’s largest show cave system; an ecological hotspot where three distinct plant biomes (succulent karoo, cape thicket and fynbos) converge; and the Swartberg mountain range, which is part of the Cape Floral World Heritage Site.
Oudtshoorn (/ˈaʊtshɔːrn/, Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈəutsˌɦuərən]), the “ostrich capital of the world”, is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865–1870 and 1900–1914, truly established the settlement. With approximately 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest town in the Little Karoo region. The town’s economy is primarily reliant on the ostrich farming and tourism industries. Oudtshoorn is home to the world’s largest ostrich population,with a number of specialised ostrich breeding farms, such as the Safari Show Farm and the Highgate Ostrich Show Farm , as told by Mnr. Pierre D. Toit.
The ostrich capital of the world is an adventure, culture and environment destination in the Klein Karoo – the unique semi-arid landscape that lies between the Swartberg and Outeniqua mountain ranges.
De Rust is a small village with a total population of approximately 3566 at the last count in 2011, 93% of whom speak Afrikaans, but English is also widely spoken. As you can imagine, most villagers will be able to give you information of what to find where.
On 10 April 2014, AfriForum indicated that it had requested Helen Zille’s intervention in the Oudtshoorn and Kannaland regions due to the “rampant municipal mismanagement”. In July, 2014, Western Cape Finance MEC Ivan Meyer, and Local Government MEC Anton Bredell, probed claims that the Cango Caves trust fund was being misused for municipal purposes. It was claimed that more than R16 million had been moved from the accounts, which were intended for maintenance and infrastructure development of the caves.
The ANC and its political allies had yet to hand over control of the municipality to the DA and the COPE by July 2014. The DA, AfriForum, and the Oudtshoorn ratepayers association together filed a request with the Western Cape High Court that DA councillors who had been suspended be reinstated, and that the ANC mayor, speaker and town managers surrender their offices to the DA and COPE.
In October, 2014, Francois Human, Director of Corporate Services for the municipality of Oudtshoorn, compiled allegations against his ANC colleagues, such as incidents of corruption, bribery and intimidation, and forwarded them to political leaders, the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the Special Investigations Unit and the SAPS.
TOURISM OFFICES
OUDTSHOORN & DE RUST
Tel: +27 (0)44 279 2532
E-mail: enquiries@oudtshoorn.com
Address:
80 Voortrekker Street, Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, 6625
GPS Coordinates: 33° 35′ 33″ S – 22° 12′ 6.6″ E