The Spring Flowers flowering season has started after good early rains and flowers are showing their pretty colours along the West Coast, Cedarberg and in Namaqualand.

From just outside Cape Town all the way to the Namibian border, the exuberance of spring flowers has a worldwide reputation. This area receives little rain throughout the year. After the winter rains of May to July, the normally dry landscape explodes into a carpet of wild flowers. Vibrant fields of gousblomme vygies, nemesias, lachenalias, babiana and ixias appear in great profusion. The entire region is rich in species found nowhere else in the world such as the yellow Leucospermum reflexum, the Snow Protea - protea cryophylla, blue Lachanaea filamentosa, yellow sparaxis, pink Cyanella alba and the Clanwilliam Cedar - widdringtonia cedarbergensis.

Peak season is from the beginning of August till the end of September. The lower-lying areas of the West Coast and Knersvlakte usually bloom first because the weather warms up quicker there. Sometimes these places have finished flowering already and only then do the higher spots around Nieuwoudtville, Kamieskroon and Springbok start budding. Certain places flower through October and even until November if the rain keeps falling and there are no withering berg winds.

As the flowers all turn to face the sun, a good general principle is to travel to the northernmost part relatively quickly and then do most of your flower-viewing in a southerly direction so that the flowers are always facing you.
The flowers are at their best between 11:00am and 16:00pm. Get out of your car and walk amongst the flowers. You will smell them and appreciate them so much more.

The flowers do not come out in heavily overcast or rainy weather.

This is a good time of the year to bird this region looking out for the specials such as the Black Harrier – Circus maurus, Cape Penduline-Tit – Anthoscopus minutus, Southern Black Korhaan – Afrotis afra, White-backed Mousebird – Colius colius, Long-billed Crombec – Sylvietta rufescens, Bokmakierie – Telephorus zeylonus, Yellow Canary – Crithagra flaviventris and the large numbers of migrant waders.

Take along a good field guides to help you recognize the various species. We recommend Wild Flowers of Southern Africa by John Manning and The Bird Guide of Southern Africa by Ulrich Oberprieler and Burger Cillie.

These beautiful spring flowers can be enjoyed on the following Aves Birding Tours/Safaris/Adventures: -

Aves West Coast Birding Tour/Safari/Adventure.

Aves West Coast Overnight Tour/Safari/Adventure.

Aves West Coast National Park and Berg River Estuary Day Tour/Safari/Adventure.

Aves West Coast Custom Tour/Safari/Adventure.