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South Africa Flower Route |
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This route is only really worthwhile in spring ? usually from late August to
Early September. You need to book ahead if you?re hoping to find a place to stay
in flower season. What follows is a great itinerary and covers far more than
most people will need ? it?s worth doing if you are a botanist or just
absolutely dead keen on flowers. But remember ? almost anywhere you go in the
flower area in season is bound to be amazing. Many of these roads are dirt. You
can still have a good flower experience without driving on dirt roads. Just
visit Darling, Langebaan, Clanwilliam, Niewoudtville or Vanrynsdorp, and you
don?t have to go far from the N7.
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| Day 1 |
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Leave Cape Town
travelling north to Darling. Visit the Tienie Versveld Flower
Reserve.
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| Day 2 |
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Explore the area,
going a little further afield. You?ll find you can?t travel very far as, every
few hundred metres you need to stop to look at some lovely new flower on the
side of the road. Spend the night in Darling again.
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| Day 3 |
| Drive out towards
Langebaan. Spend time in the Postberg section of the West Coast National Park,
where you will see carpets of daisies. Spend the night in
Langebaan.
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| Day 4 |
| Drive slowly north
along the coast road, through the Sandveld, admiring the small stands of
particularly pretty flowers. Spend the night in Elands Bay or Lambert?s Bay.
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| Day 5 |
| Head off to
Clanwilliam. Visit the Ramskop Wildflower Garden, and explore the
surroundings.
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| Day 6 |
| Drive over the Pakhuis
Pass and, turning left on the R27 (which is not continuous with the R27 between
Cape Town and Langebaan), go to Nieuwoudtville. Visit Waterval Aleen, a
beautiful waterfall. Explore the area, which is well known for some unusual
bulbs. Make a point of seeing the enormous fields of endemic orange bulbinellas.
Spend the night in Niewoudtville.
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| Day 7 |
| Drive through the
Knersvlakte, where you will see carpets of iridescent vygies.
(mesembryanthemums) to Goegap Nature Reserve, where you could spend the
night.
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| Day 8 |
| Go
for a walk in the Nature Reserve.
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| Day 9 |
| Head back towards Cape
Town on the N7, via Springbok. You could do it in one day but, as you?ll be
stopping to look at flowers, it?s probably best to overnight in Clanwilliam or
Citrusdal
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