In Namaqualand you will find acres of daisies

The area stretching north and west from Cape Town is an austere landscape
with its own, rather minimalist, aesthetic - and it's not much appreciated
outside of flower season. But desert and semi-desert areas do have their own
appeal.

The sky is open and beautiful. The distant hills and the many-coloured rocks
are an awesome sight even though their colour ranges are a palette of browns
and greys and dusky purples.

Of course, this all changes in spring, when there is absolutely no lack of
colour whatsoever. Any colour you can think of, you'll find. During the
flowering season, for a few weeks over August and September, it's a case of
trying to fit as much colour and shape in as possible into the area.

Superlatives don't do justice to this spectacle. You will find yourself
constantly changing your focus from gazing out across a few acres of
multi-coloured daisies, which almost seem to have been cultivated, or
focusing close to your feet and revelling in the myriad of different flowers
co-existing in the space of a few metres.

No exaggeration, you will find acres of daisies, or brightly coloured bulbs.
Tiny little pockets of delicate flowering plants create a private garden
every few metres down the road and everywhere, flowers flourish for their
brief but sublime moment in the sun.

Obviously, the exact timing of the flowering and the very best viewing
positions change from year to year and even within the season, so it is best
to get the latest up-to-date flower reports before heading off. Truly, the
blooming of the desert is almost biblical in its proportions.

And when the sun goes down and the daisies, vygies, orchids and the other
flowers curl up their petals against the chill - the stars are almost as
impressive. Like anywhere, the desert sky is a stupendous starlit expanse -
with the Southern Cross hanging over it all.


my motto is "Keep it simple" and "don't leave anything for tomorrow that can
be done today."

Regards Gerald Crawford

Stellenbosch South Africa
E-mail: gerald@webcraft.ws


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