The old 4x4 is fuelled, fettled and provisioned. Since word came in from my “flower scout” up north that the Namaqualand daisies, vygies and marigolds have started to bloom, I’ve been like a restless gun dog whiffing gunpowder and fresh blood on the wind. Such is the frenzy stirred up in me by Namaqualand’s flower season.
We’re sitting in a cave looking down on fields of dazzling yellow flowers, just across Moedverloor Pad that links the Agter Pakhuis region north of Clanwilliam to the Onder Bokkeveld outside Nieuwoudtville, Northern Cape. It’s our first stop en route from Traveller’s Rest farm stall, where my wife Annette and I collected friends joining us for the first night of our three-day flower tour.
After 17 years of spring-flower hunting with mixed success, I’ve planned a route through Namaqualand (see sidebar) that’s bound to turn up the red, mauve, yellow, white and orange tableaus I’m always yearning to see. But flower spotting is a hit-and-miss thing in Namaqualand; it may be five years before a good rainy season causes the brittle stony soils between Klawer and Steinkopf to be smothered in the riotous colours we seek.
The same goes for where these blooms choose to sprout from one year to the next. Just 5km south of where we’re admiring this first seasonal display, we met a grizzled old shepherd called Tom, who lamented how the lack of rain west of the adjacent Boegoeberg had desiccated the bossies his sheep feed on.
William Charles Scully, the Irish-born South African magistrate and poet, arguably best summed up the vicissitudes of the harsh Namaqualand climate and its miraculous transition after good rains, when he said: “It is like the everlasting springing of hope in a man’s tortured but indomitable spirit.”
We see our next impressive arrays of flowers on the vast fields near Papkuilsfontein guest farm, a flower destination in its own right. With all the stops made on the circuitous back-roads route we’ve been following, we’re too late to visit the Hantam National Botanical Garden outside Nieuwoudtville. Though, when I catch up with staffer Johan Mostert on the phone later, he tells me the bulbs will likely only flower towards the end of August.
Willemsrivier guest farm is a find. We are shown to the quaintest cottage called Bakoond and our friends garner a commodious old ‘Trekpadhuis’ named Peperboom. Both are decorated with furniture true to the period when the farm and its numerous buildings formed an independent hamlet, long before nearby Nieuwoudtville was established in 1897. Among many other historical curiosities, I’m interested to discover that Gen Jan Smuts and Veggeneraal (Fighting Gen) Manie Maritz headquartered themselves here during the latter part of the Anglo-Boer War (1899—1902), likely in late 1901, while British forces were stationed in nearby Nieuwoudtville.
Though the sun starts to set soon after we arrive, Annette and I take a stroll around the farm buildings and add more Karoo gazanias and mountain marigolds to the list we made in Nieuwoudtville earlier. It reminds me of the profusion of flowers I saw on an early spring visit to nearby Grasberg guest farm six years ago.
Keen adventure bike rider Ernst Kotze led me on a circular route down the infamous Hel-se Pad pass (it long preceded the Vanrhynsdorp Pass), through the Middelberg-Kuboesberg kloof and eventually back up the escarpment via the challenging Bloukop Pass. We saw multicoloured quilts of purple-pink and orange flowers, some of which we identified as bitter marigolds, pink evening lilies and Karoo gazanias.
Annette and I leave for the outskirts of Springbok early the next morning. After taking in the enchanting Nieuwoudtville Falls — its amphitheatre-like setting frames the sound and the spectacle perfectly — we make for the R355, a quieter gravel and sand alternative to the N7. Though it’s a long haul with little to see en route, we’re mindful that the primary purpose of the journey to Springbok is to visit the nearby Goegap Nature Reserve.
We overnight at Sperrgebiet Lodge just south of town. It’s located on a quintessential piece of Northern Cape veld, complete with boulder-clad koppies, quiver trees and an assortment of spring flowers among the perennially green succulents. Hopefully, it’s just an appetiser before the feast at Goegap tomorrow.
But when we get there early the next morning, the entire region is shrouded in mist. Miraculously, though, it lifts less than halfway through our 13km “Tourist Route” dirt track sortie. We’d been getting hints of what we may see during momentary bursts of sunshine, but nothing prepares us for the sparkling spectacle we experience while passing Goegap's giant rockery and flower-filled veld in the full light of day.
Then it's on to Augrabies Falls National Park, over 300km away. Apart from its obvious unique appeal, part of the reason for this side-trip is to hedge our flower-spotting bets by delaying our homeward bound trip by a few days. On our return from Augrabies, we leave the Pofadder-Kliprand R358 and head west to Gamoep, and then make our way across the Kamiesberge via Rooifontein and Pedroskloof to Kamieskroon.
While we see numbers of daisies and vygies on this mountain traverse, it’s on the southern outskirts of Kamieskroon where we have our first real ooh-and-aah moments. Swathes of mountain marigolds coat the succulent Karoo veld with burnished orange, and a little further south we find a large patch of vygies, as well as Cape marigolds and a few purple iris-like plants, classified by top wildflower man Louis Jordaan as Babiana dregei.
We meet up with Malinda Gardiner, my Kamieskroon “flower scout”, later. She urges us to detour to Soebatsfontein on our way home tomorrow as “the flowers are really spectacular there at the moment.”
Scanning my Tracks4Africa map early the next morning, I decide against the 100km there-and-back detour and opt instead for the southerly back-roads meander from Garies to Kotzesrus, and then on to Koekenaap outside Lutzville.
It’s an inspired choice. It’s as if all the flowers we’ve seen to this point have been a steadily increasing drumroll, preceding the cymbal crescendo before us. Every type of Namaqualand flower appears to have popped up in a 360 degree eruption of colour, finally welcoming us into the floral-coated nirvana we’ve sought. For 30km, the show stretches as far as the eye can see. We’ve never seen anything like it and may never again.
Top 5 flower hotspots in Namaqualand (for August):
- Garies to Kotzesrus and Landsplaas: Pure flower heaven on this 100km dirt track.
- Kamieskroon: The displays in the fields around the town won’t disappoint.
- Soebatsfontein: I didn’t get there personally, but saw my scout’s photos.
- Nieuwoudtville to Papkuilsfontein: Always a winner, particularly when warmer.
- Namaqua National Park: From Skilpad Rest Camp to Groenriviersmond.
Plan your trip
The route:
Day 1: St Helena Bay to Willemsrivier guest farm outside Nieuwoudtville. This 280km (five to six hours; 83km on dirt) journey took in Velddrif, Elands Bay, Graafwater, Clanwilliam, Pakhuis Pass, Traveller’s Rest, Moedverloor Pad, Papkuilsfontein and Nieuwoudtville.
Day 2: Willemsrivier guest farm to Sperrgebiet Lodge (5km south of Springbok). Around 340km (six hours; 280km on dirt) took us past the Nieuwoudtville Falls to just outside Loeriesfontein and then on the R355 dirt “highway” via Kliprand and Gamoep to Springbok.
Day 3: Kamieskroon to St Helena Bay. This 410km stretch (seven hours; 158km on dirt) led us to Garies (N7), then on the dirt track to Kotzesrus and past Landsplaas to the tar road between Brand-se-Baai and Koekenaap. From there, we drove via Lamberts Bay to St Helena.
The car: An AWD high clearance SUV or proper 4x4 is recommended.
What to see/do en route:
- Stop in at Traveller’s Rest for a meal or refreshments.
- Pack drinks and snacks for the cave on Moedverloor Pad.
- Take a morning or afternoon guided tour of the Hantam National Botanical Garden (R200 pp).
- View the vintage motorcycle collection at Protea Motors in Nieuwoudtville.
- Visit the Nieuwoudtville Falls and the nearby quiver tree forest.
- Pop in at the Windmill Museum in Loeriesfontein.
- Pack a picnic and drive through the Goegap Nature Reserve outside Springbok (allow two to three hours).
What to take: Puncture repair kit; plenty of water; snacks; binoculars; a good camera; and a flower reference book, like Wild Flowers of Namaqualand by Annelise le Roux.
