legend who was on hand at the bar serving up more cups of coffee with a generous shot of whiskey than ice cold beers . The weather had not put any breaks on his visitors .
The last hour of our ride into Oudtshoorn , was in the dark . I always prefer riding in daylight , but with the strong wind slowing us to a little more than snail speed , we were late . Extremely late . Luckily , the Sym scooter is fitted with a bright double halogen headlight that kept the road lit up well . Surprisingly , riding at dusk and into the dark , was awesome . I don ’ t think we passed , or were passed by a single car for the last 100 kilometres plus .
We received a warm welcome from the night guard at the Oudtshoorn Inn Hotel . Everyone else had long gone to bed . The hot shower made for a perfect ending to the day . Exhausted , we fell into the welcome embrace of the comfortable beds . Only when the cock crowed in the early hours of the morning , were we reminded that we were in the Karoo . The next morning , the thunder rumbled up in the distant mountains . I hoped this would not bring more harsh weather . After a hefty buffet breakfast , we packed the well overloaded Sym scooter and headed off into a windless , but chilly morning . Our first stop , just ten minutes down the drag . By the time we arrived , the first splatters of rain were falling . We just hoped to get some sort of shelter inside and wish the rain away while on our tour . I knew I should not have packed my rain suit away . I jinxed it .
The Cango Wildlife Ranch is iconic for their conservation , education and rehabilitation work . At the ranch , we were given a warm Karoo welcome from the Manager Nadia and her team . We were introduced to our cheerful guide , Ed , as we made our way down the steep staircase and stood in front of the first , exhibit , we knew that we were in for a treat . Ed was passionate and spoke about the animals as if they were his children . For the next couple of hours , we wandered around a Jurassic Park
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