August 2023

“A flower does not use words to announce its arrival to the world; it just blooms” – Matshona Dhliwayo

As mentioned in a previous post, we visited Langebaan at the beginning of August (and hoped to also see spring wildflowers while we were there). Although we were a few weeks too early to see them in full bloom, we were treated to a preview of the floral splendour.

The Postberg Nature Reserve is located in the West Coast National Park and is closed for most of the year but opens to the public during August and September – in time to see the exceptional carpet of spring flowers. We were lucky to have a few sunny days and early one morning we jumped in the car to drive through the park and reserve.

West Coast National Park:

Our first stop in this lovely park is always at Seeberg View Point, a few kilometers from the Langebaan gate. Here we had a beautiful view of the Langebaan lagoon and were also surprised to find early spring wildflowers.

View over Langebaan lagoon

Rock Hyraxes (‘dassies’) bask in the sun

We could see large flocks of birds on the lagoon

Wildflowers are starting to bloom now

Sea figs (‘vygies’) and daisies

After our visit to Seeberg View Point we drove all the way around the lagoon until we got to the gate to enter Postberg Nature Reserve.

Postberg Nature Reserve:

As expected, the wildflowers were not yet in full bloom. But we were still lucky to see a lot of colours in the field.

Wildflowers at the Postberg entrance

Closer look at the wildflowers

Wildflowers

It’s always nice to see wildlife in Postberg. The mountain zebras looked particularly beautiful among the carpet of spring flowers.

Mountain zebras

Carpet of wildflowers

As we continued our drive through Postberg, we were able to look out over the lagoon again and saw a submarine in the water. The 4 Special Forces Regiment (known as the Recces) is based in Langebaan and we assumed this was part of their operations.

Submarine in Langebaan lagoon

We have been to Postberg Nature Reserve many times before but have never visited the large group of rocks on a hill that is visible from afar. This time we decided to take the road to these rocks and were once again surprised with some lovely wildflowers.

Large rocks

Daisies (left) and ‘vygie’ (right)

Close up of one of the large rocks

Wildflowers

From here we drove to our favourite place in Postberg. At this lookout point one can see the beautiful lagoon, as well as the town of Langebaan.

Lagoon and the town of Langebaan

Lagoon and the town of Langebaan

Lovely view

Wild Blue Flax (‘sporrie’) and Scarlet pelargonium

Langebaan

Schaapeneiland (‘Sheep Island’) – a bird sanctuary

It was now time to leave the reserve, but we knew of one last place where we could still see wildflowers – and we were not disappointed.

Carpet of wildflowers and close to the ground

Enjoy the sight of wildflowers

Nature is absolutely beautiful

As we were about to leave Postberg, we spotted a few ostriches. It was such a beautiful sight to see them among the flowers.

Ostriches (and more flowers)

Atlantic Ocean

Sand dunes and wildflowers

Our last sighting of wildlife was a few Bontebokke (a name given by the Dutch colonists, literally translated it means ‘painted buck’). It was also nice to see two calves in the herd.

Herd of Bontebokke

We had such a lovely day in the West Coast National Park and Postberg Nature Reserve. Tourists are currently flocking to the West Coast and Namaqualand region to see the floral spectacle and we are very happy that we were able to witness the beginning of spring in South Africa.

Kokomo Beach Bar & Restaurant:

But you know … yes, we were quite hungry after our day in the field and headed to one of our favourite restaurants in Langebaan for a late lunch. Kokomo Beach Bar & Restaurant is located on the beach with panoramic views of the lagoon.

We each ordered a glass of white wine while enjoying a starter of Cape Malay bobotie spring rolls with chilli. Berto ordered a Hawaiian Burger and I was very pleased with my choice of Chicken Caprese.

Drinks and bobotie spring rolls

Yummy lunch

Oh, and it’s not just people who were excited about the wildflowers, the bees too! In Postberg, we saw a bee on one of the flowers, literally covered in pollen! So, let’s end this flower post on a fitting note.

Bee taking a ‘pollen bath’