We'd heard that the spring flowers up the West Coast were magnificent, possibly the best in many years, and we had the opportunity to take one
day free last week, so we packed a picnic and off we went. If you get a chance
to go on a sunny day (the flowers do not open if it is cloudy, so don't waste a
trip), GO. It is absolutely superb. You do need to go right into the Postberg
Nature Reserve to see them and you will be rewarded. Every spare inch of ground
without bush is covered in flower carpets. We were told that there is free entrance
to the park between the 9th and 14th of September. We also took the road to
Darling, but that was rather disappointing. Perhaps those flowers will come out
later in the season. Here are some of our photographs
A cheeky chappie welcomed us in
White and yellow daisies with orange
in the background
close up
And in the distance, the blue sea
So dense they look like snow. This is
on the way to Plankies Baai
A mole snake enjoying the warmth of
the sun
Some of the daisies are so bright they
fluoresce
A carpet of intense blue
As far as the eye can see
Sprinkles of colour in the snow white
field
and either side of the road
Then a patch of purple vygies
(mesembrianthemum)
It is like a watercolour
And in the distance some eland grazing
on the daisies
an endless carpet of colour
The flowers go right up the hill
There was lots of game on show too
At Plankies Baai, different colours of
vygies
The "tok tok" dung beetle (scarab), named
for the sound his carapace makes as he hits it on the ground to find a mate. He
was at least 3 cm long and shiny. We'd dropped a brown bread crumb and he feasted on it
The gulls wanted part of our picnic
And the mousebirds fluffed themselves out
after a bath
That's what we do with our ham fat
A regal black backed gull surveys the
scene
The flowers turn slowly during the
day, always holding their faces towards the sun and as it starts to go down, they
start to close from about 4 to 5 or if the clouds come over
Brilliant shocking pink sour figs
Little golden star flowers
One of our extraordinary plants that
hugs the ground
A pick and mix of colours
Looking back down the hill towards
where we have been, you just see fields of flowers
Wonderful colours
More and more as you climb higher and
higher
until they turn into a distant haze
eland grazing the daisies
An industrious weaver bird with his
long piece of grass
It may look untidy but he has lots to
do, weaving each piece he brings into a hanging nest to impress a mate, still
to be found. Pulling the grass
and weaving
Zebra in the background, Springbok in
the front
The long view
As we left you could see the orange
gazanias starting to close
The colours on the Langebaan lagoon
Flamingo fishing for shrimp
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015
