On the Northern coast, and very much on the tour bus itinerary (you'll see loads of buses and jeeps) , is the Ostrich Farm. It's on the road toward the (collapsed) natural bridge and gold smelter ruins and it's worth a visit if you have the time to spare. Tours (of a little more then half an hour) of the ostrich enclosures are given every half hour and the guides are knowledgeable and entertaining.

They'll tell you lots of facts about ostriches: did you know for example, that almost every part of the ostrich is used: the feathers, the skin (for high quality leather), the oil and the meat, which is very low in cholesterol and high on healthy fats?

The farm is open daily from 9am to 5pm (tours to 4pm). There is a restaurant (built like an African lodge) and a gift shop, featuring African crafts, on the farm. So if you want to bring a nice African souvenir from Aruba, this is the place to go! Ostrich meat is served in the restaurant, but not from the Aruban ostriches, which are not used for meat and eggs. A highlight of the visit is surely a visit to the nurseries. We saw some 2-day old ostrich chicks, very cute! The chicks are colored the same as cheetah cubs for camouflage!

The brochures lead you to believe the highlight of the farm would be seeing the enormous eggs (and they are huge!). While looking at the eggs, the tour guide tells you the background of the animal and of the farm. Interesting but I thought the highlight was actually feeding the ostriches. In fact the picture of my wife feeding them (and her expression is a tell-tale sign that she thought she was going to be devoured instead) was one of our pictures we had on our Christmas card we sent out to our friends.

I also had a chance to experience the animals devouring the food over my shoulder! Clicking on the pictures below give a real feeling of how large these animals are. And their expressions are priceless.

We did stay and have lunch at the lodge – the ostrich hamburgers were quite delicious.

You can see some pictures and read about the farm at their website but this is one stop you should experience yourself. Click here for the Ostrich Farm’s website.