As we had no stove our first priority was to look for one but we couldn’t find the hardware shop pointed out to us by the campsite staff. The next thing we did was to ask Nissan, which we spotted last night coming in, if they could change Tuah’s oil and filter as it really needed changing with the oil thick and black. We got an appointment for tomorrow morning at 0800hrs.

Then we set off for Cango Wildlife Park which was just a few minutes away from Oudtshoorn. The tickets included the cost of an organized tour of the park but while waiting for the tour to start we were free to roam around at will other than the places where no admittance signs were posted. Of course Adrian wanted to go to the reptile section and had a big shock when he entered and saw a massive python in the first display cabinet at the entrance. I had to pacify him by drawing his attention to the python’s head which appeared to have a mark similar to number 1.

The tour was conducted by Bianca, and was professionally done and she rattled off the facts about each animal without any hesitation. I noted that none of the animals were caged although there are fencing in and the visitors view the animals from a platform built on top, very unlike the zoos we have in Malaysia. Maybe it could be worthwhile for the zoo authorities in Malaysia to pay a visit to Cango Wildlife Park to learn how to make use of space and conduct tours at its zoos.

After the tour we decided to have lunch and that was a spoiler to the visit to Cango Wildlife as my lasagna was dry and didn’t taste too good. Upon leaving the Park we headed for Cango Ostrich farm where we didn’t have to wait too long before the tour to the farm began. Everything about the existence of ostrich from its beginning in South Africa to date was explained. It was the introduction of automobile and thee First World War that brought the decline to the demand of ostrich feathers. Nowadays the ostrich meat is aggressively marketed (I did taste the meat in Kenya and it was good) and leather products from the ostrich tough skin is increasingly poplar.

Alison picked up a couple of coin pouches for the two maids (Rosda and Sue) who should be thrilled to bits if they knew what  it is made of. We went back to the campsite only to discover that the stove we left behind had disappeared. Alison was adamant to find out what happened to it although I disagreed. She went to ask the office if it had been brought in by any staff members and the owner promised to find out as it had not 

This evening we slept in the ground tent .so that I can go to the service station in time in the morning. I could foresee that it was going to be an uncomfortable night as we had  no mattresses  and true enough at about 0300hrs I had to dig out my sleeping bag  from Tuah to be a bit more confortable.