The Plan (Repeat from Part 1)
“Let’s do the flowers again” – I can’t recall whether it was me or Gerda that raised the thought earlier this year, but the immediate answer was “Yes!”
Translated, that means we were both keen to “do” the famed Spring flowers that bloom during August and September in parts of South Africa, in particular the West Coast and Namaqualand areas of our country.
With that decision made, we set about planning and booking a 14-night trip for the last two weeks of August, which would take us to some of the prime flower spots of the West Coast and Namaqualand during what we hoped would be the peak of the flower season
The plan we came up with looked like this –
- 2 nights in Welbedacht Nature Reserve near Tulbagh (Covered in Part 1) – not part of a recognised flower route, but a convenient stopover before heading northwards to Namaqualand
- 3 nights in Nieuwoudtville, Northern Cape, with the prospect of visiting several interesting spots that we had missed during our only previous visit in 2013
- 3 nights in Clanwilliam with attractions such as the Cederberg and Biedouw Valley nearby, as well as Lambert’s Bay within an hour’s drive
- 3 nights in Darling, not part of our previous itineraries, brimming with possibilities, and finally..
- 3 nights in Paternoster on the coast, a place that we have got to know from a couple of previous visits and not far from the West Coast National Park
Day 3 – Welbedacht Nature Reserve to Nieuwoudtville
With a 290 km journey ahead, we did not have to rush and left at the “check out by” time of 11 am, sad to leave this piece of paradise with its constant birdsong and not another soul seen except a glimpse of the people in the neighbouring cottage on our way in.
The weather was fine and warm, the roads quiet, so we had a relaxed drive and time to stop a few times. The route took us through farming areas of the Swartland and small towns such as Gouda and Porterville, then onto the N7 national road northwards all the way to Vanrhynsdorp.
Our stops along the route were –
- Kole & Deeg Coffee shop in Tulbagh – for take away coffees and four of the superb Pasteia de natas we knew from an earlier visit
- Kardoesie Padstal in the Piekenierskloof Pass for quiches (tonight’s supper) and some other goodies including Weskus Pinotage and Rose wines.
At Vanrhynsdorp we branched off the N7 towards Nieuwoudtville (the locals pronounce it Nee-oat-ville) and for the next 40 kms drove the road across the flat semi-arid landscape known as the Knersvlakte – which translates literally to “gnashing plain”.
The Afrikaans name describes the loud crunching sound that early wagon wheels made when grinding over the hard white quartz gravel that covers the region’s terrain.
Van Rhyns Pass, which connects the Knersvlakte with Nieuwoudtville, can be seen a long way off, presenting as a long rising gash across the face of the mountainside.
We arrived at the curiously named Linda se Dop, the guesthouse we had booked for our three night stay in Nieuwoudtville, at 4.30 pm and were soon settled in after having to get our suitcases and bags, etc up a longish flight of stairs.
It was still warm, and I was feeling the exertion of getting our baggage to the room – what better way to cool down than a swim in the inviting pool. No other guests seemed interested and I soon found out why – the water was icy cold and it took a while before I was fully immersed. After a few lengths I climbed slowly out, my limbs feeling quite numb, yet it had the invigorating effect I had hoped for.
Following that, I went for a short walk in the vicinity of the guesthouse, which is located in a sparsely populated part of the town with large stands, and I was soon admiring the flowers I came across – mostly different from those we had found so far.
Supper was the quiche from Kardoesie padstal accompanied by the Weskus Pinotage which proved to be a good buy at R95.
Birding highlights
- Birding highlight of the day was when Gerda shouted “STOP” just after Vanrhynsdorp – the reason for her urgency turned out to be a pair of Ludwig’s Bustards walking in the low scrub. This was only my second ever sighting of this species, the first was back in 2012 in the same area while touring the flower spots for the first time.
Day 4 – Nieuwoudtville: Quiver Trees, Flowers and a Waterfall
Our first full day in Nieuwoudtville was fine and warm, even hot at times, and presented an opportunity to see some of the sights that we had missed during our short visit in 2012.
Guesthouse owner Linda gave us a rundown of the recommended places to visit after a “gentleman’s hour” continental breakfast.
One of the pleasures of ‘doing’ the flowers is that the blooms are best viewed between 10 to 11 am and 4 to 5 pm, as they are fully open during those hours, providing it is not overcast. So there is no need to rush and relaxed breakfasts are the norm, followed by a slow drive along the day’s route.
Accordingly, we left the guesthouse after 11am and headed through town, then north along the road to Loeriesfontein, driving slowly enough to be able to spot flowers and birds, both of which were not plentiful at first, but every stop produced something of interest.
The habitat changed from open farmland to Karoo scrubland and after about 20km we reached the turnoff to our first destination of Gannabos and, a few kms down a bumpy gravel road, the gate to the Quiver Tree Forest.
Gerda explored the area near the gate while I walked the narrow track to where the Quiver trees started and further to where groups of trees spread across the stony, hilly terrain, displaying their other-worldly form and bark.
Quiver trees clearly do not need much soil to grow -this one was clinging to the rock face like a professional rock climber
In between, the ground was sparsely covered with mostly nondescript plants but here and there were unusual succulents and vygies, some of which attracted butterflies coloured white, orange, and deep blue.
The most unusual succulent was the oddly named Willybush – now what prompted them to call it that?
Our next stop, on the way back, was at the Nieuwoudtville Waterfall reserve entrance, where a couple of locals were selling their wares from tables shaded by open tents – we succumbed to temptation and bought pancakes which we had straight away, plus home made iced rooibos tea and chocolate cookies for later.
The waterfall viewing point was a short walk along a track into the reserve, lined with interesting plants and flowers which attracted their share of insects and birds.
The waterfall came into view as we approached the rocky platform at the edge of the gorge and was quite spectacular despite the low water flow – the height of 90m made it special.
On the way out another stall run by a pair of local ladies attracted our attention, and we left with raw honey and dried peaches, pleased that we could support these entrepreneurs in a small way.
By this time, we were happy to return to the guesthouse, however on the way back our curiosity got the better of us and we turned off onto another gravel track closer to town to find the flowers that Linda had told us we would find at Willemsrivier.
We were rewarded with a short drive through fields of mostly yellow flowers, dominated by Katstertjies (Cat’s tails) and I spent some time taking photos of this beautiful spread of colour.
After that we made our way back for a welcome rest before enjoying a dinner at the guesthouse, with bobotie prepared by Linda and chatty table neighbours from Ogies, not far from our old hometown of Pretoria, who turned out to be large scale mielieboere (maize farmers)
Birding highlights :
- Pale Chanting Goshawk on the road to Gannabos
- White-throated Canary at the Quiver Tree Forest
- Capped Wheatear calling from a bush-top at the Quiver Forest
- Mountain Wheatear among the Quiver trees
- Cape Bunting, Karoo Scrub-Robin and Familiar Chat on the pathway to the waterfall
- Large-billed Lark (several) in the open fields
- Pale-winged Starlings at the waterfall
- Spoonbill at the vleis at Willemsrivier
