Just back from an incredible three days in Namaqualand - undoubtedly the highlight of my 6 month visit in South Africa.

Nababeep, Okiep and Concordia villages are all covered in beautiful flowers, but the most spectacular sight in this area is the astonishing series of carpets, mostly layers of colours, just before you come into Concordia village from Okiep. The colours alternate between purple, orange and yellow. These carpets spread both sides of the main road and it is possible to get right in among some of them.

There is a spectacular carpet about 15km outside Springbok spreading both sides of the main N14 road which runs towards Pofadder. This has a real mix of flowers.

A final spot definitely worth visiting is along the Grootvlei Pass road
- to find this road, take the turning off the N7 about 7km south of Kamieskroon marked “Soebatsfontein”. About 15km down this road there is a farm absolutely covered in orange and yellow flowers - very photogenic. The valley beyond the pass is incredibly peaceful and tranquil with a nice smattering of flowers and there is another beautiful carpet around a self-catering cottage 25km from the main road
- to get to this cottage, go straight ahead at the junction where the Sebatsfontein road goes off to the right. As well as the flowers, the mountain scenery and many birds are also beautiful on this road. I did this journey in a Fiat Uno with very little clearance so it is really doable in any vehicle if you drive slowly and carefully enough.

I’m attaching a few photos.

Gerry Lynch
(from N. Ireland, currently in Cape Town)

Hi again,

Before I go off on a tangent again, I want to thank everyone who complimented me on my pics and for those who have booked photographic courses and workshops with me…I truly appreciate it, THANK YOU!

NAMAQUA NATIONAL PARK - COASTAL SECTION:

On Saturday I took a couple out on a photographic excursion along the Namaqua National Park - Coastal section near “Koringkorrelbaai”. There are quite a lot of flowers along the coast, although in places it appears that some of the flowers are withering a bit. It’s still great to see. Please note this area is ONLY accessible with a 4×4 vehicle!

SARRISAM:

As apposed to taking the same route back to Hondeklip Bay, we ventured back via Sarrisam and joined up with the Hondeklip/Garies road. Wow, even though the wind was howling, it was absolutely mind-blowing beautiful there! There are numerous large patches of every imaginable colour in the rainbow strewn across the landscape.

Here’s a tip for you;

If you are heading from Garies down to Hondeklip, take a small de-tour off to Sarrisam on your left…you’ll be pleasantly surprised what you’ll find there! There are loads of photographic opportunities in the area.

For those of you who may be interested, I run one-day photographic courses and conduct flower photographic workshops out in the veld daily. The cost is R450 per person. I limit the groups to a max of 5 people, please book in advance!

Till later…

Roberto

This flower report has been submitted by:

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERTO

076 430 8300

E-mail: info@robertophotography.co.za

Web: www.robertophotography.co.za

We came into Springbok from Pofadder on Friday 26^th and all along the road from about 20 km out of town, the display of gazanias was absolutely stunning with field of them tall enough to hide a toddler in.

That afternoon we spent a very worthwhile couple of hours at Goegap, which is in splendid form with the mesems taking pride of place. Perhaps not the best it has ever looked, but splendid nonetheless. In and around Springbok the slopes of the hills are a rare spectacle.

This morning (Saturday) we set off for Kamieskroon. Not much colour along the road, but then we drove through to Skilpad, even though a local had warned us that ‘Skilpad is finished already’. Well, they couldn’t have been more wrong. We have never yet seen a better display at the reserve, and one is spoilt for choice of views everywhere. We decided to take the 4×4 route to Soebatsfontein and it proved to be a wonderfully colourful and varied drive down the passes. The road is actually quite passable for sedans with a reasonably high ground-clearance, as only the drainage humps present a hazard. Further a good driving surface. From Soebatsfontein we drove on towards Komaggas, and while the flowers became sparser, there was always enough to entertain. The Spektakel pass is a lovely drive and the views are stunning. We decided to take the turnoff to Nababeep, following a hint by a young local who claimed the flowers were ‘awesome’ in his home-village.

Well, he was so right. I have seen the town often during flower season - but never, ever, like this. The surrounding granite koppies are orange-clad almost to their summits. The little koppie in the centre of town is solid orange daisies between rocks. Gets our vote as flower destination so far.

Arne & Fay

bookman@africanabooks.com

These amazing fields are at Karas. Ask for map and directions at the Garies Tourism. Take the Studor’s Pas and turn left before Witwater to Karas. Go through several gates including one with a no entry sign (everyone is doing that) and then pass through the little village of Karas. You can drive right to these fields. We went in a ordinary sedan vehicle. Phyl