{"id":3246,"date":"2017-09-18T08:49:30","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T06:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/?p=3246"},"modified":"2019-02-26T09:16:42","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T07:16:42","slug":"flowers-in-namaqualand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/","title":{"rendered":"FLOWER SPOTTING IN NAMAQUALAND"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apart from September being tourism month in South Africa the West Coast is well known for its spring flowers, because in a blink of an eye it appears after some good rain.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

First you have to understand what Namaqualand is about.\u00a0 This is a very dry area with little rain throughout the year.\u00a0 Then when the warmer weather arrives, the vibrant flowers appear on the barren landscapes.\u00a0 You might feel that you do not need any tips on flower spotting, – how difficult can that be? – but there are some points that you need to consider in making your experience memorable.\u00a0 It is always difficult to predict when the flowers are going to bloom, as like many things in nature, they are weather dependent, but keep the following in mind to ease you into flower spotting:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The flowers are dependent on the sun to show their faces. \u00a0So, the best time of day will be between 10:00 and 16:00, which is the hotter part of the day. \u00a0Enough time to enjoy a hearty breakfast before you hit the road for the day.\u00a0 However, the flowers will not show on a heavily overcast day or in rainy weather. \u00a0For that you will need a Plan B at hand to explore some other gems of the area if that might be on the cards.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Travel with the sun behind you so that you are always facing the flowers. \u00a0 When planning your daily circular route, try to travel in a westerly direction in the morning, southerly during the day and turn east in the afternoon.\u00a0 Get out of your vehicle and walk among the flowers to see their beauty up close and personal.<\/p>\n

Ask at the friendly local tourism office where to find the best spots as it is a bit of a guessing game where the best flowering areas are every year.\u00a0 Local knowledge is tops!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is a saying that you have to visit Namaqualand at least twice in your life time.\u00a0 The first time should be when it is a year of drought and the barrenness stretches out for kilometers in front of you and where the \u201cnothing\u201d grows in silence.\u00a0 Your return visit should be in a year after good rains when the fields are blooming with colourful flowers.\u00a0 I tend to agree with this saying, because only then you appreciate the real beauty of the vistas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last, but not least, take advantage of National Parks Week (18 \u2013 22 September 2017) when the National Parks in South Africa offer free entrance. \u00a0For example: \u00a0entry to West Coast National Park will set you back R70 per adult and R35 per child, but plan your visit carefully and you and your family can enter free of charge.\u00a0 If you plan to stay over book in advance, because this is peak season in Namaqualand.<\/p>\n

As I was browsing the internet I came across a picture of me and my Daisy (published in the Country Life magazine) on our flower trip. \u00a0 Click on the link below the picture to see it for yourself.\u00a0 Man-oh-man was I surprised!<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.countrylife.co.za\/flowers\/confessions-of-a-flower-stalker<\/a><\/p>\n

Enjoy the scenery, but don\u2019t pick the flowers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apart from September being tourism month in South Africa the West Coast is well known for its spring flowers, because in a blink of an eye it appears after some good rain. First you have to understand what Namaqualand is about.\u00a0 This is a very dry area with little rain throughout the year.\u00a0 Then when the warmer weather arrives, the vibrant flowers appear on the barren landscapes.\u00a0 You might feel that you do not need any tips on flower spotting, – how difficult can that be? – but there are some points that you need to consider in making your experience memorable.\u00a0 It is always difficult to predict when the flowers are going to bloom, as like many things in nature, they are weather dependent, but keep the following in mind to ease you into flower spotting: The flowers are dependent on the sun to show their faces. \u00a0So, the… Read more ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[720,719,718,853,722,721,723,413],"geo":null,"yoast_head":"\nFLOWER SPOTTING IN NAMAQUALAND - TRAVELBUCKET<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Apart from September being tourism month in South Africa the West Coast is well known for its spring flowers, because in a blink of an eye it appears after some good rain.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FLOWER SPOTTING IN NAMAQUALAND - TRAVELBUCKET\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Apart from September being tourism month in South Africa the West Coast is well known for its spring flowers, because in a blink of an eye it appears after some good rain.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TRAVELBUCKET\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travelbucket.co.za\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-18T06:49:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-26T07:16:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MWhiteheadG\u00c7\u00f4spring-39-800x445.AAAAAA.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"445\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"TravelBucket\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"TravelBucket\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/\",\"name\":\"FLOWER SPOTTING IN NAMAQUALAND - TRAVELBUCKET\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-18T06:49:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-26T07:16:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/#\/schema\/person\/cc04253df164c722665885283479f0fa\"},\"description\":\"Apart from September being tourism month in South Africa the West Coast is well known for its spring flowers, because in a blink of an eye it appears after some good rain.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FLOWER SPOTTING IN NAMAQUALAND\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/\",\"name\":\"TRAVELBUCKET\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/#\/schema\/person\/cc04253df164c722665885283479f0fa\",\"name\":\"TravelBucket\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/236600677697d0405083fc3bae2b4831?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/236600677697d0405083fc3bae2b4831?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"TravelBucket\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.travelbucket.co.za\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FLOWER SPOTTING IN NAMAQUALAND - TRAVELBUCKET","description":"Apart from September being tourism month in South Africa the West Coast is well known for its spring flowers, because in a blink of an eye it appears after some good rain.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FLOWER SPOTTING IN NAMAQUALAND - TRAVELBUCKET","og_description":"Apart from September being tourism month in South Africa the West Coast is well known for its spring flowers, because in a blink of an eye it appears after some good rain.","og_url":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/","og_site_name":"TRAVELBUCKET","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/travelbucket.co.za\/","article_published_time":"2017-09-18T06:49:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-02-26T07:16:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":445,"url":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/MWhiteheadG\u00c7\u00f4spring-39-800x445.AAAAAA.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"TravelBucket","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"TravelBucket","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/","url":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/","name":"FLOWER SPOTTING IN NAMAQUALAND - TRAVELBUCKET","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-09-18T06:49:30+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-26T07:16:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/#\/schema\/person\/cc04253df164c722665885283479f0fa"},"description":"Apart from September being tourism month in South Africa the West Coast is well known for its spring flowers, because in a blink of an eye it appears after some good rain.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-ZA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/flowers-in-namaqualand\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FLOWER SPOTTING IN NAMAQUALAND"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/#website","url":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/","name":"TRAVELBUCKET","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-ZA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/#\/schema\/person\/cc04253df164c722665885283479f0fa","name":"TravelBucket","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/236600677697d0405083fc3bae2b4831?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/236600677697d0405083fc3bae2b4831?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"TravelBucket"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.travelbucket.co.za"],"url":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3246"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3246"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5318,"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3246\/revisions\/5318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/travelbucket.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}