Namaqualand Flowers near Clanwilliam South Africa

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Are you wondering how best to go about seeing the flowers? Are you confused by all you've read so far? We've launched our Flower Guide, and you can get you hands on it here... Carpets of Colour: how to avoid missing out as you drive the Flower Route

Have you ever heard of the spring Namaqualand flowers?
I guess you must have, or you wouldn't be reading this page!

We've lived in Cape Town for years and in the past we made a few attempts to see the famous spring flowers up the West Coast. Initially we only went as far as Langebaan, which is just the start of the West Coast flower route.

Langebaan and the Postberg section of the West Coast National Park are great if you only have time for a day trip. But if you want to go see whole hog, you'll need to venture a bit further.

In 2008 we got the family as far as Clanwilliam
(about 3 hours' drive from Cape Town).

The N7 is a good national road and in places it winds over spectacular passes and around amazing rocky hills, so it’s pretty scenic too. And that's before you even count the floral spectacle on the roadsides and beyond. If I am I sounding a bit over-enthusiastic it's because incredibly beautiful scenes are still etched on my retinas.

Here's a little foretaste for you...

Where IS the 'Flower Route'?

When we’ve headed out on flower ‘missions’ before I’ve always felt a bit aimless. I wondered if there were particular places that were very spectacular that we didn’t know about! Now that I have far more concrete ideas of where to go, that need not be your fate. I've finally written my West Coast flower route guide book to give you exhaustive planning details.

Postberg is the closest ‘hotspot’. It is a small section of the West Coast National Park close to Langebaan and is only open during the flower season.

It is less than an hour’s drive from Cape Town, either via the R27 west coast road from Bloubergstrand or on the N7 which runs a little inland.

On from there you get Clanwilliam and the surrounding area and north to Vanrhynsdorp and Nieuwoudtville. Clanwilliam is around 3hpurs drive from Cape town, Vanrhynsdorp at least an hour beyond that with Nieuwoudtville at least 5 hours in total from Cape Town. You can drive on beyond Nieuwoudtvile to Springbok, some 8 hours from Cape Town

Clanwilliam was our destination this time and we spent a weekend soaking up sights that we had imagined but which way surpassed our expectations

The Namaqualand flowers are unique because of their diversity, their short flowering period and the sheer abundance of them in such an arid landscape. For the botanically-minded they are fascinating for more scientific reasons, but that’s a story of its own!

My advice to you is to visit tourist information as soon as you reach your chosen destination. They will be able to point you in the direction of the best flower displays. In our case it was the Biedouw Valley,, some 65km beyond Clanwilliam, down hairpin passes on gravel roads.

Was it worth it? Yes, it was!

This was the view from part way down the last mountain. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks – orange rocks? Lichen? No – flowers!!

Then we got closer – and oh my word.

Flowers.

All in different shapes and sizes and lots of different colours.

You can step between them (take care not to trample them please!) and study them at leisure. And take as many photos as you can fit on a film or memory stick!

Namaqualand Flowers Photo Gallery

Our first view of the Biedouw Valley

More and yet more Namaqualand flowers!

Delicate blooms up close

Big sky country -- majestic mountains

We left Cape Town enveloped in the rain and drove out into clear skies and brilliant sunshine for 2 days. When we returned, the same storm was still lashing the Peninsula!

Take my advice. Plan to visit the spring flowers next August or September.




You may find the following related pages helpful:

Carpets of Colour - how to avoid missing out as your drive the Flower Route

Accomodation Langebaan
Accommodation Clanwilliam
Accomodation Springbok

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