Namaqua Daisies Northern Cape!

craigcryptoking (69)in #flowers • 4 years ago

Hey everyone, how incredibly goregous are these Namaqualand Wild Daisies! I have alwyas loved flowers, been the nature boy bunny hugger I am which makes sense I guess. Wild Flowers EVEN MORE and with these below pics it is easy to see why!

Can you believe such gorgeous beauty exists in such sandy arid soil?

As per www.southafrica.net The Wild Flower Route in South Africa’s Northern Cape province is a springtime vision that will colour your imagination for the rest of your days. Here, Namaqualand daisies and more than 3 500 other floral species emerge in spring – from early August to the end of September – to offer one of the world’s greatest flower shows.

A 3-hour journey up the N7 from Cape Town, branching at Vanrhynsdorp, takes you to your first stop: the 6 200-hectare Hantam National Botanical Garden, just outside the village of Nieuwoudtville. Known as ‘the bulb capital of the world’, its soils contain startling numbers of geophytes (plants that have underground storage organs). A single spadeful of earth can yield nearly 100.

‘An incredible 1 350 plant species have been recorded on the Bokkeveld Plateau so far, and about a third of these are threatened with extinction,’ says the garden’s curator, Eugene Marinus.

Among the most spectacular geophytes are the brilliant blue pride of Nieuwoudtville, Geissorhiza splendidissima, and the 2 finest Sparaxis species – Sparaxis elegans and Sparaxis pillansii.

While most visitors come to see the spring flowers, autumn (March and April) in Nieuwoudtville offers another spectacular flower display, when the Amaryllidaceae species – the beautiful, lily-like amaryllis family – come out to play.

The Hantam National Botanical Garden also offers a choice of hiking trails and mountain-bike routes, as do several farms in the area.

From Nieuwoudtville, head back up the N7 to the 150 000-hectare Namaqua National Park, where flowers bloom as far as the eye can see. There are several floral hotspots along the way, including the Skilpad Wild Flower Reserve at Kamieskroon. This route leads all the way through the Namaqualand town of Springbok to the Goegap Nature Reserve, which covers nearby 7 000 hectares.

Hiking, eco-trails, day drives, mountain-bike and 4-wheel drive routes are all on offer in and around both reserves. You can also learn about pollinators, including butterflies, bees and birds, as well as wildlife, including the bat-eared fox, steenbok and Cape porcupine.

The information offices at the Namaqua National Park and in Nieuwoudtville offer maps and everything else you’ll need to know – so come for at least a week, and take the long road to the land of colour and imagination. https://www.southafrica.net/gl/en/travel/article/the-wild-flower-route-through-northern-cape-feast-your-eyes-and-soul-on-the-pride-of-namaqualand

So where were these gorgeous pics taken? At the foot of these moutains check out my last post here: https://hive.blog/mountains/@craigcryptoking/swiss-alp