Anybody who has been caught up in the Cape’s spring flower madness will tell you it can be a hit and miss affair. No matter how well you plan your route, the vibrant swathes of daisies (asteraceae) and “vygies” (mesembryanthemaceae) can prove elusive. And if the clouds move in, your floral fantasy can often end in disappointment.
I leave home a day earlier than planned as some inclement weather is forecast for Thursday and part of Friday. I’m hoping the coming cold front won’t make landfall before I soak up the floral wonders within the Postberg section (only open in August and September) of the West Coast National Park (WCNP).
Due to the Cosatu cost of living strike, I’ve also made sure to bypass any major towns to avoid the workers sabotaging my own frail freelance “cost of living budget”. It’s therefore with a degree of smugness I celebrate my good planning outside the small village of Darling. I even caption a shot of amazing arum lilies with: “Nearly in park, no sign of strike action.”
My illusions are soon shattered, however, as I make my way out of town, by a double barricade manned by a surly looking mob armed with sticks and sjamboks. Not even my foreign tourist act (I do a mean Portuguese impression) grants me right of passage and I’m told to “go around”. “Go around where?” I want to scream. Don’t these people know a cold front is coming?
Colourful blotches of daises pretty up the landscape around an old farmhouse and I smile at the irony of being directed here by a Cosatu detour
I eventually calm down to a panic, retrace my steps and consult a friendly fireman on alternative routes. Turns out there’s a “reasonable dirt track” (West Coast speak for “thick sand road”) about 13km towards Mamre, “the Groote Post road”, he says, like it’s common knowledge. Luckily I’m in my trusty old 4x4, so getting stuck is unlikely.
With my “Cry the beloved country” mien in full flight by the time I find the dirt road — it’s a 50km detour and the sun, never mind the petrol, is disappearing fast — I select 4WH and make like Giniel de Villiers for the N7. Yet, about halfway along this sandy track, a tableau unfolds that has me grinning from ear to ear. Colourful blotches of daises pretty up the landscape around an old farmhouse and I smile at the irony of being directed here by a Cosatu detour.
The weather has turned cloudy as I turn into the WCNP. But I’m cheered by the fact that it’s still quite warm and just half an hour of capricious sunshine can have the daisies, gazanias, marigolds and mesembs opening up for me.
The thing about the WCNP, though, is that even if you strike out and miss the memorable floral displays at Postberg, there is so much else to see and do here. There are a number of good bird hides, wild surf picnic spots and serene lagoon tableaus to appreciate, two information centres to visit and taking a walk around the Paarl Rock-like viewpoints at Postberg and Seeberg is also highly recommended.
Having only seen a few minor patches of flowers on the way up to the Postberg picnic sites, I take my own advice and wander over the huge granite outcrops, taking in the epic views of the Langebaan lagoon, Saldanha Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Apart from the vistas and invigorating blasts of ozone-infused air, one of the other joys up here is exploring the many menhir-like monoliths on top of Postberg with your binoculars, which bring Druids and dragons to mind.
After this short sojourn, I drive to nearby Plankiesbaai, the only place I’ve never visited in the park. En route, I pass a group of debussed foreign tourists muttering about the recalcitrant blooms, which apparently still don’t have enough sunlight to unfurl fully. I empathise and shrug solidarity as I drive past them.
Just outside Plankiesbaai, however, I get my first glimpse of the great floral potential I’d imagined. Plankiesbaai itself is a revelation of pristine marine beauty, and its grassy verges are fringed with hundreds of tiny yellow flowers, which I classify as the common grielum with the help of my wild flower book.
It’s time to make my way to the campsite at Vensterklip, just inland of Elands Bay. I booked it when I decided to take an “insurance day” before my long-arranged chalet stay at Hawerland guest farm (between Graafwater and Clanwilliam) and I’m impressed with its private kitchen and ablution facilities — all for a very reasonable rate, too.
Vensterklip borders on the Verlorenvlei, an ecologically important estuarine lake that stretches about 30km from Elands Bay to Redelinghuys. Covering about 1,500ha, it’s one of the largest natural wetlands left in SA.
On my morning walk to the edge of the vlei the next day I’m alarmed to discover the waters have retreated a couple of hundred metres from where I saw them a decade ago. A staff member tells me later that the drought-stricken Piketberg farmers have had to draw off a lot more water than usual, and they also haven’t had much rain this winter.
I arrive at Hawerland guest farm, after a circuitous detour through Lamberts Bay, around lunchtime. Welcomed by my colourful host, flower artist Roedolla Collen Smit, I pray her sunny disposition augurs well for me finding the mother-lode of flowers here.
The next day dawns cold but sunny and I follow the farm’s perimeter trail on foot, but besides isolated outcrops of bright yellow Clanwilliam “harpuis” (Euryops speciosissimus), “ysterbos” bushes (Phylica oleifolia), “hongerblomme” (Senecio arenarius) and baboon flowers (Babiana ambigua), I’m not seeing the fields of dazzling daisies I’m looking for. Adding insult to injury, I continually have to knock ticks off my jeans and keep falling into small sinkholes caused by monster mole rats.
In desperation I seek counsel from Roedolla, who tells me to check out her neighbour’s farm, just a kilometre down the road. “The flowers are really beautiful there,” she says with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
A touch sceptical, I set off in the 4x4. Just before the neighbour’s farm gate, a breadcrumb trail of Cape rain daisies leads me to several large patches of the florescence I’ve been searching for.
Like a crack addict, I want more and I’m soon edging through the farmer’s gate and heading slowly towards Engelsman se berg. The further I go, the more my mouth opens at the dazzling orange spectacle that unfolds. I’m sated, there’s simply no reason to go on.
Travel Notes:
The route:
Day 1 — Bot River to Elands Bay: Darling via Van der Stel and Franschhoek passes, the R44 towards Wellington, the R45 to Malmesbury, the R315 to Darling (or the Groote Post sand track, about 13km back towards Mamre), the N7 to the WCNP, then on the R27 through Velddrif to Elands Bay. Vensterklip is 5km east of here. Distance: 366km.
Day 2 — Vensterklip to Hawerland guest farm: Take the R365 to Lamberts Bay and the R364 to Graafwater. About 2km east of Graafwater, take the Jakkalsvlei dirt track for 9.5km and the farm entrance will be on your right. The chalet is 5km on. Distance: 100km.
Day 4 — Hawerland to Bot River via Clanwilliam: Via dirt tracks and the N7 to Clanwilliam (38km-29km dirt), via the Cederberg dirt track to Algeria, via the Blinkberg Pass to Op die Berg, then the R303 to Ceres (190km-115km dirt) and Ceres to Bot River via the R46 and R43 (145km). Distance: 373km. Distance over three days: 914km (about 75km in WCNP).
What to take with you: Slingsby’s road maps, Arne and Pat Schaeffer’s Lagoon, Braam van Wyk’s Wild flowers of SA, Vincent Carruthers’ The Wildlife of Southern Africa, a tyre compressor, puncture repair kit, binoculars, camera, water, snacks, spare tyre, insect repellent and a first aid kit.
What to see and do along the way: Of course there are the flowers, but in addition there are good wineries and breweries in and around Darling. Pack camp chairs and a picnic lunch/braai for enjoying in the WCNP, check out the fishing boats at Laaiplek outside Velddrif and enjoy takeaway fish and chips (Doepies) on the quayside, enjoy a cold beer at the Elands Bay hotel or Vensterklip Bar, take a walk on one of the “boutique” beaches outside Lamberts Bay, visit Muisbosskerm and/or Isabella’s restaurants for excellent seafood and visit the Clanwilliam Wild Flower show (August 25 to September 5).
Where I stayed: Vensterklip outside Elands Bay (private camping site for R165 per person per night — 022 972 1340) and in a chalet with a view at Hawerland guest farm (R500 per night for two people — phone 083 565 7045 about their end-October festival).
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.