The West coast is just as great as the Garden Route but completely different. We have been fortunate because the rains arrived early this year, the bush is damp and green, and the sheep are getting fat.The drought is broken and the locals expect an exceptional flower season, go see the West Coast Magic Carpet.
Namaqualand holds rich promise after a long drought, a seemingly harsh land feeds the humour of its inhabitants, and the dry wit of Namaqualanders is especially upbeat these days as they look forward to better days in the wake of last year's dust-swept disaster.
Even as far down as Clanwilliam, the mood is light, as the Clanwilliam Dam holds more than double the amount of water now than it did at the same time last year, about 50%. Great for water sports.
But it is higher up around towns like Gharies, Klipfontein, Springbok and the little-known Kliprand where farmers and townsfolk alike are already preparing for a good season.
The N7 north of Clanwilliam is often a lonely place, with arid landscapes stretching from horizon to horizon, broken only by the profiles of equally arid, rocky hills.
They look as if they have been scorched by centuries of exposure to an angry sun. However, in June that sun is not really angry, but the frost can be. Mornings can be as crisp as dry ice, especially when a thin, wintry breeze is blowing.
The N7 draws a colourful complement of travellers - from the hurrying representatives of big business and thundering trucks laden with an assortment of goods, to tourists and traveling curio salesmen.
It is the old N7, now reduced to just about the width of a single lane with a gravel surface that runs parallel to the official one.
The road from Springbok to Garing and Vaalputs, where the government owns and runs a nuclear waste storage facility, was graded most of the way after some good rain.
I am certain enough rain has fallen for one of the best flower seasons in a years. In the Vaalputs area, the Bushmanland veld is a lot more arid. Even so, a variety of flowers have already made their appearance among the more hardy bushes.
There are also tiny succulents tucked away between the ridges' boulders, or on the empty stretches of land. Here and there, healthy looking springbok graze near the road, their coats shiny and clean in the watery winter sunlight.
Farmers around here have had a hard time. They have had to reduce their flocks to the minimum as water was scarce, but it is looking so much better now.
Grazing dorper sheep with their characteristic black heads and white bodies can be seen in groups or individually as they wade through the greenery.
On the south-eastern side of Vaalputs, the road to the little town of Kliprand shows even more signs of flash floods so typical of the area.
After what feels like an eternity of driving through flat land, boulder-stacked mountains suddenly rise up to create mysterious nooks and hide-always in the landscape.
Kliprand is nestled in a small valley between two such ridges, straddling the gravel R358 that runs to Bitterfontein on the N7, about 80km further on.
The town has a gravel main street and just the odd side track, it still looks like it probably did at the end of World War 1. The West coast offers many great reasonably priced villas and B&B.
Everything a (botanical) garden should be: a place of calmness, humor, education, relaxation and contemplation.
For peace of mind just google to Soekershof and find out more about its unusual (?) garden concept.
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