I am the biggest bird alive!

There are thousands of wild ostrich runnning around
free in South Africa and Namibia.
And there are many ostrich farms too, where you can
see how they breed, how the eggs are hatched
and how they live.

This amazing bird is taller than 2 metres.
The male is black and white and the female grey.
When they are running like mad towards the horizon
they look so COOL.
A little while ago, while driving through Namibia,
we saw a large group of ostrich .
There were also 40-50 babies, about the size of a chicken.
We drove slowly up to them, trying to get close
enough to make a good photo, but some of them saw us
and they all ran like mad. The parents sprinted
away at top speed, leaving their children behind.
Losing sight of mommy and daddy,
the babies ran in the wrong direction towards a fence!
Most realised their mistake and turned around,
but two chicks determinately attacked the fence
and escaped to the other side.
This was a disaster and all my fault!
I stopped the car and tried to catch them on foot.
An adult ostrich can run faster than 60 km/h,
but luckly they were still babies. After few minutes
of hard labour, I managed to catch them.
Back in the car, holding the squirming chicks,
one under each arm, a mad car chase began.
We caught up with their parents soon and
from a distance nudged the babies in the right direction.
Happy family reunion!



This is a very friendly ostrich whom we met in Namibia.
He loved being fed, but ate so viciously,
we had to put the bread on the top of a stick.

Ostrich have very very strong legs.
They can kick you in the stomach and cut your belly
open! The picture below looks like I am riding an ostrich,
but in fact I am just sitting on it.
He was quite tame, but even so, in front there is a fence to
stop him from running and his caretaker is holding him from behind.
Everybody's dream of "riding an ostrich" is not so easy!

BEFORE


and AFTER!

Ostrich is very delicious!
This is ostrich steak and scrambled ostrich egg.
The steak is 100% red meat, low in fat and cholesterol,
low in calories and very healthy. The egg is light and creamy
and stays fresh for a month. So I bought one
and had an egg party in Johannesburg with 4 friends.
We made scrambled egg and we ate and ate and ate
and still there was lots left over!

Ostrich are not so clever.
Their eyeball weighs 60g and they can see 3.5km far,
but their brain weighs only 40g and is the size of a thumb nail.
So, it's very easy to steal an egg.
A pair of thieves is needed. One distracts the bird,
while other runs away with the egg.
But if you get caught...
you will have to run faster than 60km/h!
Are you ready?

Join our tour to Namibia in May!
Click here to find out the details!
We plan to get really close to animals and nature!

(See last weeks story and others here.)



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