Our show birds are getting ready for breeding season. It is that time of year at Safari Ostrich Show Farm for our ostriches to start producing eggs. Our breeding season starts in July and runs until February next year. It is quite an experience to see the males parading around with their red legs and…
Oudtshoorn, situated in the Klein Karoo, will always be associated with the world’s largest bird, the Ostrich, but it is also home to a great variety of other birds. The focus today is the beautiful Malachite Sunbird also called the green Sugarbird. The Malachite Sunbird is a small nectivorous bird found from the highlands of…
Ostrich farming started in South Africa in the early 1860’s and ostriches were farmed for their feathers only. We now refer to the beginning of the industry which was from 1863 to 1915 as the first phase and especially the period between 1890 and 1914 as the Feather-boom period. During that time you would get…
Ostriches are classified as Desert Birds and can survive in hot and dry climates. They can go without water for more than two weeks. Their ability to endure such arid climates has resulted in many people in the past referring to ostriches as “Camel Birds”; the ostrich’s survival ability in the desert being similar to…
Biltong, a traditional snack, is a form of dried cured meat. Various types of meat are used like beef and game e.g. Springbok, Kudu, Gemsbok and Ostrich. Biltong is typically made from raw strips of meat following the grain of the muscle or flat pieces sliced across the muscle grain. Meat preservation is a…
Ostrich oil comes from the fat of the ostrich. This biggest flightless bird in the world, the Ostrich, has been a valuable source of food and other purposes for thousands of years for many native tribes. For centuries ostrich oil has been used by Egyptian, Roman and African cultures for the relief of dry skin,…
Safari Ostrich Farm has 312 hectare of Lucerne under flood irrigation. We would not be able to produce Lucerne without the help of bees. The Lucerne produce on Safari Ostrich Farm is mostly used as food production for our ostriches. The Lucerne of the Oudtshoorn district is also highly regarded for its nutritional value…
For many years it is believed that the ostriches bury their heads in the sand. This however is not true. There are numerous reasons why this is a myth. One for instance is that when females turn the eggs twice a day, she will keep her head low to the ground and due to the…
It is amazing to me how important this peculiar bird has become to the local economy of Oudtshoorn and surrounding towns. The truth is however, that the Ostrich supplies us with the most sought after High Quality Fashion Accessory on the international market. Ostrich Leather, tanned to absolute perfection in all the colours possibly…
When ostriches look at you it is hard to not see their eyes as they are so big and beautiful. As ostriches are the largest birds in the world they have the largest eyes of any bird in the world. Measuring at 5 centimetres in diameter from front to back, the ostrich eye is five…