Festivals, fashion and feather bandits: why ostrich plumage is still worth its weight in gold - a photo essay

In the 19th century the prized feathers were more expensive by weight than gold. Today, from Strictly Come Dancing to the humble feather duster, demand remains high - and is largely met by farms in South Africa's Western CapePhotographs by Rip Hopkins"There's nothing more beautiful to me than the male ostrich standing upright, opening up his wings, and seeing that movement of the feathers. It's something you don't get with any other farmed animal," says South African farmer Laubscher Coetzee.A fourth-generation ostrich farmer in the Karoo town of Oudtshoorn, Coetzee, 62, started out as a child, raising day-old ostrich chicks on his great-grandfather's farm. Since then, his life and passions have been inseparable from the birds.Nicola Klue with young ostriches on her parents' farm. At one point in the late 19th century, ostrich feathers were more expensive by weight than gold Continue reading...