Wild flowers at their best

Rod and I took two days off and drove north to Clanwilliam to see the spring wild flowers. Although there were swathes of flowers in places along the roadside, we discovered we had missed the peak of the flower season in Clanwilliam and then went off further north to Niewoudville.

First stop was at the Kokerboom or Quiver Tree Forest. I felt like I had walked into a Steven Spielberg movie.

Then on to the Niewoudville Flower Reserve.

The yellow bulbinella were looking splendid.

The Tourist Information Centre at Niewoudville had recommended a visit to the farm Maatjiesfontein, now given over to wild flowers. We were stopped to pay a fee in the little shop housed in one end of this stone building.

 

Whizzing by the flower fields in the car is one thing, but stopping to peer into the grass revealed an astounding variety of flowers.

You can see a few yellow bulbinella peeping out above the low growing flora.

I love the red gazanias sprinkled in between the other flowers.

Further on were fields of yellow daisies.

 On the way back to the gate, clouds of pink and purple.

Leaving Matjiesfontein we made a stop off along the dusty road to have a look at the glacial pavement. The tracks scored into the rock were made by boulders trapped under the ice as the glacier slowly inched it's way forward. Hard to imagine this area under glaciers and snow in the last ice age.

We stopped to enjoy the view and a welcome mug of coffee from our flask before descending Vanrhyns Pass, covered in tall yellow daisy bushes, and making our way back to Clanwilliam.  

The irrigation scheme north of Clanwilliam has given rise to a large area under vines and other crops, and it extends for several kilometres along the valley.

The end of a lovely day with the sun on the Cederberg mountains.

This was day one of our little road trip. The next day proved to be just as spectacular. I am still working out how to manage my photos with Windows 10 and a new PC and hope to have more flower photos to show you soon.