From lovely Tulbagh we work our way west and north via Riebeek Kasteel and Darling and on into the West Coast National Park, one of the “go-to” places for flower viewing. We’ve been told about hot-lines to call and web-sites to visit, but while watching the rain in Tulbagh, I’ve discovered that there is a certain part of this W. Coast park where one views flowers—the Postberg section—and it’s only open to the public for the months of August and September.
We drive quite a distance to get to the Postberg, first stopping at some points along the coast where the huge waves are crashing onto a shoreline that is carpeted with shells. Along the way we almost run over a thick short snake, that we subsequently discover is the extremely venemous puff adder, but we’re focused on flowers. Once we enter Postberg, they are indeed abundant. There are hillsides of purples and yellows, roadsides of whites and oranges, and when we do step out of the car, the variety of flowers is astounding. From a distance, it’s a pointillist canvas of colors, but up close, the colors show up in an amazing number of forms. There are largish daisy-like flowers all over, but there are also tiny pink and purple succulents, small purple/pink orchid like flowers, and whites that look alpine. It’s a botanist’s dream--also the stuff of impressionist paintings. To top it off, there are antelope, ostriches and zebras wandering the slopes of color, and a scintillating blue ocean on the western horizon.
The park is also a paradise for birdwatchers, as there is a huge lagoon in the U shaped park which then spills into huge Saldanha Bay. We spend the night in the tiny white town of Paternoster, enjoying the small fireplace in our room, while the waves crash onto fine white sand some 20 meters away. The following morning we continue up the coast through another beautiful bird reserve where we see pale pink flamingoes and a flurry of other brightly colored loud birds who flit busily around us in a wetland of reeds. Then it’s on through Eland’s Bay and up to Lambert’s Bay. The weather begins turning foul, so we’re doubly lucky to have viewed the flowers the day before; without sunshine they don’t open!
From Lambert’s Bay the wind picks up several notches, so we forego the bird colony and head inland to Clanwilliam, where we spend the next two nights.
We hope to do some hiking in the Cederberg Mountain area—a hulking mass of rocks just to the east and south of Clanwilliam. We first attempt the northern border of the park, crossing the Pakhuis Pass through rough fields and mountainsides of rock that look to have been raked by giant prehistoric claws. Boulders jut and balance precariously in the most unlikely places, and the terrain is otherwordly and ominously desolate. There is so little traffic in these areas that one can stop in the middle of the road to take photos without the slightest concern for oncoming or passing cars.
It’s 360 degrees of raw and inhospitable rock, and yet it’s beautiful. The road eventually becomes a dirt track to an old Moravian settlement, but our little rental car hasn’t the mettle to deal with such mountain paths. After the rains that have fallen in the area, we’ve been told many roads are closed due to river flooding, but even at the best of times, only 4x4 vehicles should be attempting the trip. So we turn back through the pass, where the clouds are steadily dissipating, and once near Clanwilliam we try our luck with another entrance into the Cederberg area, about 30 km south, where there is a mere blip on the map, Algeria. Not more than a couple of km off the main road,we come to the first bridge, over which the Olifants River is coursing with dangerous speed. Undeterred, we return once again to Clanwilliam and attempt a different inroad—this time to Bosmanskloof, a small sliver of land that cuts into the park area, but is actually private land.
The views of the valley are ample and awe-inspiring, and the further we drive, the more flowers there are. Up high in the mountains they are just beginning to peep out, but in this valley, there are fields and hillsides brimming with color. We drive until we finish up in an area that is being developed for what will be some sort of game park, but which is still rather rudimentary. We turn back to Clanwilliam, resigned to not seeing the inner Cederberg area, but content with the gorgeous array of color and flowers we’ve nonetheless managed to see.
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