It’s that time again!!  August and September in South Africa mark the months of the year when nature awakens in the Western Cape and Namaqualand, presenting a breathtaking display of abundance and creation. This is the prelude to Spring and a time when Nature seems to whisper “Listen, guys, stop focusing on all the negativity in the world.  Just pause for a while to enjoy the flower pageant and take note of the hope that we offer you – the hope of colour after aridity and life after a cold dead winter”.

Well, we heeded this call and arranged a self-guided tour of those areas to see the flowers.  What a lavish reward awaited us!   This particular trip was made even more special because we were accompanied by our dear friend, Heather, who hadn’t seen the spring flowers before.

Our trip started with a few days in Langebaan where we stayed at Club Mykonos, a fabulous resort with a Greek theme.   This gave us easy access to the West Coast National Park, where we were treated to beautiful panoramas of colourful flowers at Postberg and Seeberg.    We also visited nearby Yzerfontein, which was a first for us along this stretch of coast.  It also gave us an evening of Greek dancing and ouzo-filled glasses, that turned very festive as the evening wore on, but that’s another story, probably best left untold!

It was great that we were able to combine our love of birds with the flower displays.  A number of them managed to surround themselves with a palette of colours while feeding on the numerous insects that were drawn to the flowers.  For the best displays, it’s always best to visit the flowers on a sunny day, as they open up and turn their heads to the sun. 

From here we headed up to Darling, home of Pieter Dirk Uys (of Evita Bezuidenhout fame)  with his Evita se Perron theatre and museum dedicated to his life and works.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the restaurant before making our way back to Langebaan.  The parks here with an abundant variety of flowers, were the Darling Renosterveld Reserve and Tienie Versveld Nature Reserve.

Next on the itinerary was a stay just outside Clanwilliam. There weren’t so many flowers around our chalet, but the area offered beautiful drives into the Biedouw Valley and another day’s outing to Niewoudtville and van Rhynsdorp.  In Niewoudtville, we visited the Hantam Botanical Gardens and the well-known Matjiesfontein farm, both of which delighted us with the splendour of their flowers.

Photographs don’t truly do justice to the flowers; it’s an experience you must personally immerse yourself in to fully appreciate. I hope this short blog encourages you to plan a future trip here, so you can also enjoy this annual flower show.

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