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Many visitors following the Garden Route make a side trip (70km/43mi inland) to Oudtshoorn, the world's principal ostrich- breeding center. Its period of greatest fame was around 1900, when ostrich feathers from Oudtshoorn were sent all over the world. These days of glory are now past, but Oudtshoorn still makes a good living from
ostrich farming. Ostrich feathers and ostrich meat find a ready sale, and Oudtshoorn's ostriches have been successfully marketed as a tourist attraction.
Another reason for visiting Oudtshoorn, the largest town on the LiIttle Karoo, is the beauty of the surrounding country. It lies in a fertile valley (tobacco, fruit, vegetables, grain), surrounded by the Swartberg and Outeniqua Mountains.
Oudtshoorn was founded in 1847, but its rise to prosperity began in the 1870s, when ostrich feathers were much in demand as a fashion accessory. Between 1880 and 1915 there were anything up to 750,000 ostriches on farms in this area. The ostriches flourished in the warm, dry climate, bringing the ''feather barons'' unprecedented wealth. After the out- break of the First World War ostrich feathers were no longer in demand in Europe and ostrich farming declined, though it was never entirely abandoned.
Oudtshoorn is a country town of modern aspect, with several large hotels. A number of luxurious mansions (known locally as ''feather palaces'') have been preserved from the heyday of ostrich farming.
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