Wild Flower Tour

Wild Flower Tour – Namaqualand & Kalahari Desert

(12 nights/ 13 days)

HIGHLIGHTS:

Pretoria – Kimberly – Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Augrabies – Springbok – Niewoudville – Clanwilliam – West Coast National Park – Cape Town

Book this Tour

Touraco Tours & Transfers - Wild Flowers

Namaqua Wild Flowers

Touraco Tours & Transfers - Wild Flowers in Cederberg

Wild Flowers in Cerderberg

Golden Flower

Itinerary

(13 days & 12 nights)

Guided Tour:

August & September

Tour can be shortened. Day 2, 3, 6 & 12 can be left out.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Pretoria – Kimberly – Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Augrabies – Springbok – Niewoudville – Clanwilliam – West Coast National Park – Cape Town

Day 1: Pretoria

Your Tour Guide will pick you up at the Johannesburg International Airport, before you depart to Pretoria, the Administrative Capital of South Africa and informally known as the “Jacaranda City”. Enjoy a city tour to visit the highlights of this town: the historical Voortrekker Monument, Church Square and the Union buildings. (BB, Touraco Guesthouse, Pretoria)

Day 2: Kimberley

Depart for Kimberley. The city was founded around a big hole about 800m deep when diamond diggers and about 30000 workers excavated the diamond pipe during the late 19th century. The city boasts other firsts like the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to install electric street lighting and the first city in South Africa to switch to an automatic exchange, and it housed the country’s first Stock Exchange. (BB Kimberley) approx. 520 km

Day 3: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park (Kalahari Gemsbok National Park)

Your trip continues to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park (previously known as Kalahari Gemsbok National Park). Red sand dunes, sparse vegetation and the dry riverbeds of the Nossob and Auob show antelope and predator species off at a premium and provide excellent photographic opportunities. Because of the sparse vegetation and concentration of animals in the dry riverbeds of the Auob and Nossob Rivers, the park offers premium mammal viewing. It is especially renowned for predator & raptor watching and for the seasonal movement of large herbivores such as blue wildebeest, springbok, eland and red hartebeest. (BB Kalahari Gemsbok National Park) approx. 380 km

Day 4: Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park (Kalahari Gemsbok National Park)

Ground Squirrel and Suricate are two more of the park’s more prominent species. Honey Badger, Pangolin (Scaly Anteater) and Bat-eared Fox are some of the park specials to search for. But it is the predators that are the park’s biggest attraction. Excellent chances of seeing cheetah, leopard, brown and spotted hyena and the definitive black-maned lion exist. (BB Kalahari Gemsbok National Park).

Day 5: Augrabies Falls National Park

Continue to Augrabies Falls National Park. Few sights are as awesome or a sound as deafening as water thundering down the 150 deep & 56 metre wide Augrabies Waterfall when the Orange River is in a full flood. The Khoi (Bushman) people called it “Aukoerebis”, or place of Great Noise, as this powerful flow of water is unleashed from rocky surroundings characterized by the 18 km abyss of the Orange River Gorge. (BB Augrabies National Park) approx 410 km

Day 6: Namaqualand – Springbok

Depart for Springbok, Namaqualand’s Wild Flower Capital. Springbok lies in a deep low plain between rugged mountains, about 600 km north of Cape Town. It is the commercial and cultural center of Namaqualand. Copper was discovered on the farm Melkboschkuil in 1850 and a mine was established. The mine became the first commercial mine in South Africa, but was worked out by 1888. In 1863 the town was mapped out and built around the copper mining industry. Namaqualand is probably the world’s most awe inspiring floral kingdom in the world. It is believed that “You have not seen any flowers until you have experienced the splendour of Namaqualand in full flower”. Each year in spring (July – September), Namaqualand hosts the most spectacular show on earth. Situated in what is probably the most arid part of South Africa, the stark contrast between winter and spring can nowhere be more dramatic than in this part of the world. A multi-coloured wildflower carpet grows almost overnight, enticing thousands of people to visit the area and share in the bounty of Mother Nature. One of the special sites to visit is the Goegap Nature Reserve. (BB Springbok) approx. 350 km

Day 7: Namaqualand – Springbok

We spend the day at the Namaqualand National Park near Kammieskroon. A circular drive and a few short walking trails let the visitor experience the incredible floral diversity of the area. (BB Springbok)

Day 8: Niewoudville:

We leave Springbok and travel south, via Kammieskroon and Garies to Niewoudville, This scenic town of Nieuwoudtville is more than a daisy town & known as the bulb capital of the world. We visit the Niewoudville waterfall and drive though various huge flieds of wild flowers, where you find more than 300 species of geophytes, beautiful bulbs that have been lying dormant and then present themselves in great abundance in springtime “as carpets of blooms”, rain dependant.

Day 9: Namaqualand – Clanwilliam

From Niewoudville we travel to Clanwiliam. Clanwilliam is situated at the foot of the mighty Cederberg mountain range ±230 km from Cape Town. It has lots to offer the tourists, namely the beauty of the mountains, rock art, bird-watching, historical buildings and the scenic beauty of the flowers in “Flower Season”. Clanwilliam is situated in a part of the Western Cape which is the only place in the world where Rooibos is planted and cultivated. (BB Clanwilliam). Approx 345 km

Day 10: Paternoster/Langebaan

We travel via Lambert Bay to Paternoster. In Lamberts Bay we visit the seabird breeding colonies at Bird Island, which attract tourists from all over the country and offer ‘up close and personal’ experiences with Cape gannets, cormorants and African penguins.

Only 100 metres offshore of Lambert’s Bay, and accessible by ferry or across the breakwater, the modern gannet lookout at Bird Island allows one access to unique mating dances and the incredible vocalizing of thousands of gannets on their nests.

From Lamberts Bay we travel to Paternoster. This evening we stay in a BB either in Paternoster or Langebaan.

Day 11: West Coast National Park – Cape Town

After breakfast we travel to the West Coast National Park & Postberg Reserve (only open to public during flower season) for our last official viewing of the amazing West Coast/Namaqualand wild flowers and a variety of mammal species to look out for including Eland, red hartebeest, Cape grysbok, caracal and rock hyrax. Visitors should also keep an eye on the Atlantic Ocean for passing whales and dolphins.

(BB Cape Town) approx. 120 km

Day 12: Cape Peninsula

Depart for Hout Bay for an optional Seal Island Cruise. Drive along the breathtakingly scenic Chapman’s Peak Drive, around the Atlantic Seaboard to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and its scenic viewing point. Continue along the coastline to Boulder’s Beach where you can sit among a colony of penguins. Not to be missed is the world famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (optional). (BB Cape Town) approx. 160 km

Day 13: Return flight

Optional visit on Table Mountain (weather permitting) or a free day in Cape Town before we depart to Cape Town Airport for your flight home.

This Itinerary can be changed on customer request and can also be booked as Self-Drive option: