Oudtshoorn and the Cango Caves

The Largest Show Cave System In South Africa, A Chain Of Dripstone Chambers Running Underground For Several Kilometres With Only The First Section Open To Visitors Above It The Little Karoo Town That Got Rich On Ostrich Feathers Before The First World War And Built Sandstone Feather Palaces With The Money, And Still Farms The Birds · Oudtshoorn, Western Cape

Over the Outeniqua mountains from the Garden Route is the Little Karoo, and in a limestone ridge north of Oudtshoorn is the largest show cave system in South Africa. The Cango Caves run several kilometres underground in a chain of dripstone chambers, the first and biggest of which is the size of a cathedral with formations that took hundreds of thousands of years to grow. Only the opening section is shown, on a standard walking tour; there is also an adventure tour through narrow squeezes deeper in, which has been suspended at times and should not be assumed. Above ground, Oudtshoorn got extraordinarily rich on ostrich feathers before the First World War, when plumes were worth more by weight than almost anything else, and the farmers built sandstone feather palaces with the money. The birds are still farmed. It is hot, dry and about an hour inland from Knysna over a pass, and a startling change of world for the hour.

In the Little Karoo over the Outeniqua mountains from the Garden Route, with the Cango Caves 30 km north of the town, Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, South Africa

The Cango Caves run guided tours through the day with a ticket office at the entrance, and ALL VISITS ARE GUIDED - you cannot walk in alone. The standard heritage tour covers the first large chambers; THE ADVENTURE TOUR THROUGH THE NARROW SECTIONS HAS BEEN SUSPENDED AT TIMES AND WHICH TOURS RUN VARIES, so ask rather than booking on an old description. Tours fill in South African school holidays and the caves cap daily numbers for conservation, so arrive early or book. The temperature underground is constant and humid. Ostrich farms around Oudtshoorn run their own tours daily. The feather palaces are mostly private houses seen from the street, with the CP Nel Museum covering the boom. Oudtshoorn is an hour over the Outeniqua Pass from George and the Garden Route, and it is MALARIA-FREE and very hot in summer.

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