A rodeo with ostriches

Journalist ErikNilsson rides an ostrich at a theme park in Zhengzhouwhile exploring China'swhacky travel destinations.[Photo by Carolrichman/For China Daily]

Riding the planet's largest flightless bird is like mounting a bronco, Erik Nilsson reports.

Mounting an ostrich isn't easy.

Staying on is even harder.

Visitors to Zhengzhou's Jinlu Ostrich Amusement Park don't get a saddle or stirrups when they hop on the giant birds' backs.

They can only clasp fistfuls of plumage and pray, as they sway atop the creatures' swiveling shoulders.

Another thing - ostriches run.

Fast.

As in up to 70-kmph. Lunging 5 meters each step.

(Makes sense if you can't fly or fight predators like cheetahs. You get great at skedaddling.)

Also - ostriches peck.

Hard.

It's no accident African agriculturalists never domesticated the world's largest flightless bird.

Yet the park in Henan's provincial capital has - for both pleasure and practicality.

(The park began as Asia's largest ostrich-breeding base in 1997 before becoming one of China's weirder amusement destinations, starting in 2004.)

They've stunted their gates' velocity by shortening riding tracks.

The scene resembles a rodeo. But in China. With ostriches.

(Ostriches and horses also race without riders along racetracks.)

Weird thing is, bucking atop the planet's largest bird like it's a bronco is among the more, um, normal things about the park.

Guests can also visit an outdoor petting zoo with living and pickled animals, an imperial-themed haunted house where dynastic officials hack each other apart and a forest of robotic dinosaurs.

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