Blooming good time

Little did our safari guides, Jannie and Ansu Rykaart of Protea Safari Tours, know when we set out, but three years of drought (or much lower than average rainfall) in the western half of South Africa would mean that this year’s flower hunters would have an unusually exciting and challenging eight days as they travelled through the spectacularly arid Namaqualand countryside in search of those special Spring flowers.

TRAVELLING WEST

Our group of eight, in four vehicles, met up for the first time on 24 August to overnight at the Slypsteen Guest Farm, off the N10, about 28 km outside Groblershoop. The setting for the chalets and the restaurant building is absolutely divine, perched right on top of a jagged metamorphic rock koppie, and overlooking the tree-lined Orange River, the farm dam, the irrigation canal and neatly trimmed vineyards on the river floodplain.

We were first to arrive, and after being greeted by host Ryna Blauuw, grabbed our camera and wide-angled lens to capture the beauty around us. With my geology background, I was soon scratching around picking up the most interesting rock and mineral specimens!

We gathered on the veranda for sundowners and a “meet and greet” (with Jannie’s complimentary Beyerskloof red wine flowing freely) – it was immediately obvious that our fellow flower companions, whom we had not previously met, were the nicest folk! Friendly, up for any adventure, full of