Oudtshoorn is the ostrich capital of the world. The town built on feathers lies in the Little Karoo region of South Africa, 250 miles, or about 400 kilometers, from Cape Town. Around the turn of the last century, when white ostrich plumes were as precious as gold, the feather barons of Oudtshoorn built great palaces. The feather crash of 1914 ended all of that.
But Oudtshoorn (pronounced "oats horn") is back on the map. Thanks in large part to Brazilian Carnival, there is a resurgent market for feathers, though the bigger markets today are for ostrich leather and meat.
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OUDTSHOORN
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