When cycling through South Africa, there’s always going to be a fear in the back of your mind that you’ll come across an unwelcome companion. South Africa is home to dangerous predators such as lions, leopards, and cobras, and although the chances of an animal attack in an urbanized area are low, we’d keep our wits about us nonetheless.
So when a group of cyclists rode through the South African countryside, they were probably expecting to be chased by something a lot more terrifying than an ostrich (though we’d still be pretty terrified).
One of the cyclists managed to catch the whole thing on video and it’s the most hilarious thing we’ve seen today!
The video was shared onto YouTube by Oleksiy back in 2016, and it became an instant viral sensation. It now has over 11 million views and 126k likes, with thousands of comments from people who just can’t stop laughing about it.
Originally from Switzerland, Oleksiy and some cycling friends traveled to South Africa for the popular Cape Argus Tour. Explaining in the caption, he said:
‘We came down to South Africa for the Cape Argus Tour. It is the biggest cycling event in the world, probably. On Friday, to stretch out the legs we went on pre-race ride [~130km why not?] to the Cape of Good Hope [I love this name!]. The road by the ocean side was quiet and a little deserted.’
All was fairly normal at first, and then quick as a flash, an ostrich races onto the road.
He seems to be intent on keeping up with the cyclists as he runs after the two men at the front with surprising speed. Hilarious as it is, we’d also be pretty terrified! We had no idea that an ostrich could be so huge, and this one is much bigger than the cyclists. Olekisy said:
‘Suddenly, I spotted a white ostrich on my left, then this beast jumped on the road from the right and started chasing my friends! It was a little scary at first, but then I thought I gonna fell of my bike from laughter. The ostrich didn’t have any problem to keep up at 50km/h and apparently they do 70km/h with no sweat.’
Thankfully, despite chasing after them at an alarming speed, the ostrich didn’t bother the cyclists and soon became bored of running after them.
The men were left with a hilarious video that sent the internet into meltdown. Oleksiy pondered why the ostrich decided to spend some time on the road with them and said:
‘Luckily the creature decided to leave us alone, as we were running out of road. The Cape of Good hope is a dead end way. My guess he wanted to show off in front of his girlfriend, I bet she was very impressed!’
Whatever the reason for this ostrich’s sudden burst of energy, it makes for the most brilliant video! We bet the cyclists were so glad that they decided to bring their camera out that day.
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