Blooming marvel on the Cape coast
IT’S mid-morning and heat from the sun is transforming a rugged South African landscape into a spectacular nature show, as thousands of daises and flowering succulents open their petals to form a vast brilliantly-coloured living carpet.
This is my first glimpse of the world-famous wild flowers of remote Namaqualand, an area stretching 1,000km along the West Coast and into Namibia.
A recognised biodiversity hotspot in the Northern Cape, a kaleidoscope of blooms burst from the sand and granite here each spring.
Their survival, always an againstthe-odds battle with the harsh climate in this arid, semi-desert area, is even more remarkable now as the Northern Cape, along with other parts of this nation, has been in the grip of a persistent drought for four years.
“Our bloom show is always what we call our annual miracle. We particularly appreciate it at the moment, as it’s continuing despite the drop in rainfall levels,” says my guide Malcolm Mostert, as we gaze at a dazzling vista of fuschia pink, yellow and orange flowers in Goegap Nature Reserve.
It boasts 600 plant species and 45 mammals, including savanna baboons, and is in the heart of ‘bloom country’ around 15km southeast of Springbok, the largest town in Namaqualand.
“Winter rain’s vital to nourish the seeds of the plants which lie dormant in the soil during the dry months and so, of course, flower displays are affected but they’re still so beautiful,” Mostert explains.
“The plants are sun-sensitive so won’t open on cloudy days, but there’s nothing to beat that first sight of them after the sun has warmed them, and they’ve lifted their heads.”
Mostert takes guests from his Okiep Country Hotel, near Springbok, on tours to discover plant and abundant wildlife, to meet descendants of the (San) Bushmen tribe and experience homespun hospitality at Pedroskloof sheep farm, nestling at the foot of the nearby Kamieskroon Mountains.
It’s just a small taste of what’s on offer in this wonderful area, with its majestic backdrop of towering mountains, hills, granite outcrops and seemingly endless blue skies. Yet plants are undoubtedly a main draw.
Tourists, including botanists, ecologists and avid gardeners, visit •Nature Trek (01962 733 051; naturetrek.co.uk) offers a 9-night self-guided holiday to South Africa from £2,795pp (two sharing), including accommodation, car hire, internal flights and return flights from Heathrow. Prices for September 2019. throughout the year, especially during the flowering season from July to mid-September, because Namaqualand boasts around 3,500 plant species, as well as one third of the world’s succulent species.
There’s even a dedicated telephone hotline for ‘bloom hunters’ giving flower sighting updates along the Namaqua Flower Trail.
Remarkably, in such unforgiving territory, there are trees too. Quivers (kokerboom) with water-storing leaves and shallow roots take advantage of every drop of moisture. Their name derives from the ancient practice of Bushmen using their tubular branches to craft quivers for their arrows.
Drawn by the lure of refreshing sea breezes, shipwrecks, whale and dolphin spotting, as well as pristine beaches, I head north-west to the Diamond Coast. In the 1800s, diamonds discovered in the Northern Cape laid the foundation for South Africa’s economy. My guide, Rodville Adams, takes tours between Koingnaas and Kleinzee covering coast and country, and describes it as a place to “refresh the soul and bathe in nature”.
It’s a wonderful finale to a trip that began with flowers and ends with them.