OudtshoornSights

Sights in Oudtshoorn

  1. Cango Wildlife Ranch

    If you’re all ostriched out, head to this ranch. It feels a bit zoolike but contains a good collection of wildlife and big cats (in rather small enclosures). An encounter with cheetahs costs R140, and with the tiger cubs R300 (for over-16s only); funds go to the Cheetah Conservation Foundation. And if shark-cage diving is old hat for you, then you’ll love the crocodile-cage diving here, in a heated pool. The ranch is 3km from town on the road out to Prince Albert. Other big cats here include lions, pumas and Bengal white tigers, and there are also pygmy hippos, alligators and other wild animals.

    reviewed

  2. Cango Caves

    Named after the Khoe-San word for ‘a wet place’, the CangoCaves are heavily commercialised but impressive. There’s a choice of tours on offer. The one-hour tour gives you just a glimpse – it’s better to choose a longer tour. The Adventure Tour is the most fun, but involves crawling through tight and damp places so is not recommended for the claustrophobic or unfit. The caves are 30km north of Oudtshoorn.

    reviewed

  3. A

    CP Nel Museum

    Extensive displays about ostriches, as well as Karoo history, make up this large and interesting museum, housed in a striking sandstone building completed in 1906 at the height of ostrich fever. It also features some impressive reconstructed Victorian shops and the interior of an 1896 synagogue transferred here when its original home was demolished.

    reviewed

  4. Highgate Ostrich Show Farm

    They offer guided tours of 45 minutes to 1½ hours. We found the staff at Highgate Ostrich Show Farm very knowledgeable. It’s 10km from Oudtshoorn en route to Mossel Bay.

    reviewed

  5. B

    Le Roux Townhouse

    Decorated in authentic period furniture, this place is as good an example of a ‘feather palace’ as you’re likely to see.

    reviewed

  6. Meerkat Magic Conservation Project

    Biologist and conservationist Grant McIlrath is the world’s foremost expert on meerkats. His passion for the endearing animals comes shining through in his unique meerkat experience. At this pioneering conservation project, you will get to see up close how these curious, highly intelligent creatures communicate and live. Thanks to Grant’s many years of building up trust with the meerkats, they are entirely unaffected by your presence while allowing you to enter their environment. If you have only one wildlife encounter in the Western Cape, make it this one. The natural meerkat burrows are at various locations a few kilometres west of Oudtshoorn along Rte 328, but the coll…

    reviewed

  7. CP Nel Museum & Le Roux Townhouse

    Extensive displays about ostriches, as well as Karoo history, make up this large and interesting museum, housed in a striking sandstone building completed in 1906 at the height of ostrich fever. It also features some impressive reconstructed Victorian shops and the interior of an 1896 synagogue transferred here when its original home was demolished.

    Included in the ticket price is admission to Le Roux Townhouse. This place is decorated in authentic period furniture and is as good an example of a ‘feather palace’ as you’re likely to see.

    reviewed

  8. Cango Wildlife Ranch & ­Cheetahland

    If you’re all ostriched out, head to this ranch. It feels a bit zoolike but contains a good collection of wildlife and big cats (in rather small enclosures). An encounter with cheetahs costs R140, and with the tiger cubs R300 (for over-16s only); funds go to the Cheetah Conservation Foundation. And if shark-cage diving is old hat for you, then you’ll love the crocodile-cage diving (R220) here, in a heated pool. The ranch is 3km from town on the road out to Prince Albert. Other big cats here include lions, pumas and Bengal white tigers, and there are also pygmy hippos, alligators and other wild animals.

    reviewed