When Lady Gaga made a splash at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony last month, it wasn’t just her performance that caused heads to turn. Her black leather outfit, replete with pink ostrich plumes, was also a talking point. Those feathers were sourced for design house Chanel and were given to Dior to create the get-up for the superstar. But they started their journey in the charming Karoo town of Oudtshoorn, in the Western Cape.

Oudtshoorn is synonymous with ostriches, even if the feather industry is now a far cry from its boom days. Once the “ostrich capital of the world”, its allure faded as the motor car replaced the horse-drawn carriage; ostrich-feather hats were impractical in the faster-moving vehicles. Still, even today you’re never far from ostrich products in the town — feathers, bags, accessories and dusters. And ostrich safaris...

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