Being overseas for so long last year (4 months!), I completely missed the spectacular display that comes with spring flower season in the western and northern Cape.
But not this time! I am planning to visit the beautiful Postberg Reserve once again, and though I probably won’t make it all the way up to Namaqualand this year (danged petrol price being what it is), I am planning a trip up to the Biedouw Valley, near Clanwilliam.
Apparently, the flowers up there are superb, and at the Enjolife Adventure and Nature Farm, which is where I’ll be staying for two glorious nights, there are sections that have not been used for grazing – which means pristine land full of wildflowers. Yay!
If you haven’t yet made the trip out to the West Coast National Park (of which Postberg is a part), I can highly recommend that you do so this time around. Whilst every year is different, the flowers I saw there two years ago blew my mind, and the prospect of a sunny day out in the countryside is very appealing indeed.
If you’re planning to go:
- It’ll take you about an hour to get there: the main entrance to the park is on your left, about 90km from Cape Town, on the west coast road (R27) before Langebaan.
- Entrance to the park costs R30 for South Africans, R60 for tourists. If you have a Cape Cluster Wildcard, it’s free.
- The Postberg Reserve is a section of the park that is only open to visitors during flower season (August and September).
- If you’re going during the weekend, get there EARLY. The queues can be quite staggering and frustrating, and it’d be a pity to have driven out all that way to get only a few moments of flower-gazing.
- The main gate opens at 7am (until 6.30), and the Postberg section at 9am (closes 5pm).
- The best viewing times for the flowers are apparently between 11am and 3pm.
- Keep in mind that flowers turn towards the sun, so it’s best to view them with the sun behind you.
I spoke to the folks at the park yesterday, and was told that the flowers are just starting to come out now, and advised that I give it another week or so before heading out there.
So, by the weekend of the 15th of August, they should, weather permitting, be in full and glorious swing!
Additional flower-hunting reading
There doesn’t seem to be much info on the wild wild web, but here are a few useful links:
‘Cape flower power‘ – an article on iafrica with tips on where you can go to see the flowers, and what kind you’re likely to see.
‘South Africa: Wild flowers of the Western Cape‘ – detailed flower information from Travel Africa Magazine Online. Click the ‘pdf’ icon at top right of the article for the full info (and in an easier to read format).
Darling Wildflower Society – another great place to view the flowers is Darling, and the website has a fair amount of useful and current information.
Clanwilliam Wild Flowers and Cape Fynbos – great resource for the Clanwilliam and Cederberg areas.
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Britt on 
Hey Pia,
About grazing and wildflowers…
I read an article recently about Glenlyon, the farm BotSoc has just purchased up in Nieuwoudtville which is legendary for its flowers.
Former owner Neil McGregor was a sheep farmer turned (amateur?) botanist. When he first noticed the flower ‘treasure’ in his pastures he fenced the best bits off so they could not be used by the sheep for grazing. Within a couple of seasons he noticed the best flowers were OUTSIDE the fenced bits, not inside!
He put tw0 and two together and figured “Hey, this is the Bokkeveld, ne? Obviously the bokke grazing amongst them has a GOOD impact on the wildflowers…”
So he took down the fences and the rest is botanical history…
Nieuwoudtville is awesome for flowers, but alas far off. As you say,dang that petro price!
Hey Alison
How interesting! I’d never have imagined it would be that way… Then again, thinking about it, I remember someone once telling me that the wildflowers actually tend to appear on land that has depleted soil – that they’re a tell-tale sign of a lack of nutrients in the earth. I wonder if that’s the link between grazing and a profusion of wildflowers…
I would so love to go to Nieuwoudtville, but I guess it’s just going to have to wait for another year!
Hope you see some good ones, if you go hunting
Hi Pia and Alison,
Alison I’m interested to hear that you know about Glenlyon! It actually now forms part of the Nieuwoudtville Botanical Gardens. Neil Macgregor has retired and sold his land to SANBI. It is true that grazing in his farm aided seed dispersal (the seeds get stuck on the animals feet) but this is only where the sheep are not overstocked. Neil Macgregor was very conscientious about his farming and did not allow areas to become overgrazed, which is unfortunately the case in so many other parts of the country. Also, putting stock into camps for certain periods of the year is fine i.e. after the plants have set seed. But if there is constant grazing throughout the year (and the camp is overstocked) the sheep or cattle (particularly bad) will graze the plants before they’ve had a chance to flower and set seed, hence being unable to reproduce for the next season. This limits the genetic variance in a population and decreases their chances of survival. This is when the pioneer plants and those more weedy species are able to dominate. The Asteraceae, or daisy family, have some examples of these. Many of them are annuals and produce masses amounts of seed, the dispersal of which is aided by further disturbance. So those masses of daisies you see on roadsides and up the west coast are generally a sign of disturbance-either the veld has been ploughed or overgrazed.
I’ve just got back from a field trip to an awesome private nature reserve, Bontebok Ridge, where there is only limited grazing by game over large tracts of land and we found the most amazing plants-some critically endangered. It is on these fragments of pristine veld, or semi-pristine, that the real gems have found refuges. Nieuwoudtville is so special because it is an area where many different geological types meet and the tillite and dolerite soils support high concentrations of geophytes (bulbs). Really spectacular.
If you guys are really interested in seeing some of the special plants that we have out there, ask to join the custodians of rare and endangered wildflowers group on fb and come on some of our field trips. Would be awesome to have you there. Our programme is a national programme but I am a botanist based at the kirstenbosch research centre.
And if you go to Darling I highly recommend the Tienie Versveld Nature Reserve, although there are unfortunately a lot of alien grasses.
Enjoy the flowers!
Caitlin
Hey Caitlin
Thanks for explaining that all so well… most interesting indeed. I’m so glad that SANBI bought that land and ensured its continued maintenance. I most definitely want to see it one of these days (sooner rather than later).
Your trip sounds spectacular… it must be breath-taking, seeing all those varieties (and knowing what they are!). All we plebs see is different colours, I suppose, and mostly just fields of those daisies (which are also very beautiful, of course).
And thanks for the tip on the Tienie Versveld Reserve.
Seeing as you’re at Kirstenbosch… I haven’t been in a few weeks – are the wildflowers in bloom yet? Those can be pretty astounding as well