Cape - September 2016
We went to see the flowers in August but they had been more spectacular on previous occasions. People told us that they were spectacular this year - so we decided to return and travel further down the coast and into different areas to find the flowers. We did find them.
This was a "big" holiday with lots of various parts.
The 4x4 was packed with everything required to sustain us in comfort for a few weeks.
Lots of pictures were taken - about 1400 - to remind us what we saw. Many pictures were taken through the windscreen as we moved along and I took the flower pictures as I saw them - it was uncomfortable to get really low and then take the pictures. You have to travel the route yourself to gain the full experience.
We camped everywhere except at the hot springs in Montagu where we stayed three nights in a cabin for the price of two.
Below are the YouTube addresses of slide shows without sound and some are quite long. I have inserted the play time. The download time may be longer if you have a slow connection. I use "Internet Download Manager" to download the videos and then play them without interruptions. I am not sure why but sometimes the slide shows do not start with the first slide.
01 Red Sands to Nieuwoudtville
We decided to take a different route towards the Northern Cape. The areas around where we stay are getting more built up and I thought we should use the main highway and go through Zeerust. On the way we visited dear friends in Delareyville. Our first night was spent at Red Sands near Kuruman. The plan was to try and camp during this trip.
We had packed the vehicle for an extended trip and we had enough food and drink to last about two weeks,
We enjoyed dinner at red sands after setting up our campsite.
On the way to Upington we came across a thorn tree with pink flowers. I have only ever seen three of these pink trees. We saw two on this trip and I passed the first one but when I saw the second one I stopped and took a picture of it.
Near Upington we saw Khi Solar One. "Khi Solar One is a solar power tower solar thermal power plant, located in the Northern Cape Region of South Africa. Khi Solar One is 50 megawatts, and is the first solar tower plant in Africa. It covers an area of 140 hectares."
At Keimoes we headed south and the scenery was nice but in the beginning there were few flowers to be seen.
There were many Kokerboom trees along the way.
As we travelled south we began to see more flowers.
On arrival at Nieuwoudtville we found a camp site near the centre of the town but there was a welcoming notice to the effect that if you had not booked they did not want you there. We then went to the information centre at the church and they arranged for us to go to a farm about sixteen kilometers away where we would be welcome. The farm was Grasberg and on arrival we set up camp on their lovely lawn. The next morning we went for a walk with their dog and enjoyed the scenery. We had been told to visit the farm down the road where there was a sign indicating "Flowers". When we had packed up we went to the "Flowers" turnoff and met the farmer who owned the campsite. I said we would like to see to farmer who owned this area and she said "Hello". This was the best flower show we had seen up to this stage of the trip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLb_IpxULhU
28 minutes 22 seconds play time.
02 Nieuwoudtville Falls
A friend in Cirusdal told us we should visit the falls at Nieuwoudtville. This was excellent advice as this was a beautiful spot worth seeing. There was a nominal entrance fee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mEE5lSBzmg
7 minutes 4 seconds play time.
03 Nieuwoudtville to Citrusdal
The route from Nieuwoudtville to Citrusdal was lovely. The Canola Oil (Rapeseed) flowers were very pretty. On arrival we vited dear friends who suggested a new campsite for us at Markuskraal. Our friend kindly phoned the owner and booked a site for us. We had lots of room as we were the only campers that night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJlbSU-PEwQ
4 minutes 49 seconds play time.
04 Citrusdal to the sea
This was a lovely drive and we saw flowers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3-M1nXKVQ8
7 minutes 31 seconds play time.
05 Langebaan
The northern part of Langebaan had the most spectacular flower displays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrjzIqKPi2U
11 minutes 25 seconds play time.
06 Yzerfontein
We decided to camp at Yzerfontein before deciding where to go next.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0iaMkEZj-I
3 minutes 37 seconds play time.
07 Struisbaai to Montagu
We visited friends in Hermanus and enjoyed lunch with them. Sylvia was keen on Arniston but when we arrived there we were told that the campsite was closed due to painting renovations. They advised us to go to Struisbaai. Here we had over a hundred campsites all to ourselves. The next morning we headed for Montagu where we spent three nights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHAK4a4vCRo
7 minutes 58 seconds play time.
08 Bontebok National Park - Part 1
There were a number of lovely camp sites to chose from and we set up the tent as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXqvfAKA1dI
20 minutes 52 seconds play time.
08a Bontebok National Park - Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-WSqJTnLcE
17 minutes 34 seconds play time.
09 Riversdale to Addo
We spent the weekend with dear friends in Riversdale. On leaving we headed up the Garden Route. I was surprised at how many windmills there were Don Quixote would feel at home. The run was fast as we visited a few antique shops and then decided to head for Addo. This time I went into Port Elizabeth and did not turn off before we saw the sign to Addo. It might help if there were more signs along the way. We passed lovely aloes in bloom but had to press on as it was getting late. Little did we realise that we would see lots more on the way home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZbHWO98qqs
5 minutes 25 seconds play time.
10 Addo - Part 1
All the caravan sites were full and we managed to get a tent camping site where we were just able to fit the vehicle. This took quite a few backward and forward manoeuvres. After we had decided on a site we found that there was a much bigger site available. However this one had no tree above us and that was nice as leaves would not be falling on us and birds would not perch above us either.
In the morning light we were fortunate to see a lovely herd of buffaloes at the waterhole.
The elephants were also enjoying themselves at another waterhole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow02IpT2-c8
14 minutes 7 seconds play time.
10a Addo - Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-lZ-mT3N6s
12 minutes 19 seconds play time.
10b Addo - Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShYqjUcqTEs
14 minutes 25 seconds play time.
11 Zuurberg Pass
This was a spectacular pass. Unfortunately the light was not good but even so we saw some lovely flowers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dciqO-p6TQ
14 minutes 52 seconds play time.
12 Mountain Zebra National Park - Part 1
There was camping space and we enjoyed a lovely camp site there. Once again we erected the tent as this reserved our spot.
The park was very dry. It is surprising that the animals can walk in some of the rocky terrain without getting injured.
Tortoises swim well and we saw this again at one of the water holes.
We drove all the roads again and enjoyed looking at the scenery as well as the animals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvvwm1N8sU4
19 minutes 22 seconds play time.
12a Mountain Zebra National Park - Part 2
We left when the gates opend at 7am and after a short stop in Bloemfontein for fuel and lunch arrived home around 4pm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P35SscLOjDc
17 minutes 43 seconds play time.
The total distance we travelled was 5100 kilometers.
The maps showing our routes are shown in the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB7Wz6q-ApY
This is an extremely big file that I have played with showing the flowers as they do not appear. The reason for playing with this is someone commented that the colours were a bit washed out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jP1TkcXLa8
39 minutes 46 seconds play time