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02 September 2012

South Africa - Waylands Flower Reserve, West Coast

Waylands Flower Reserve - Floral Beauty West Coast
(August & September) 


West Coast Flowers need the sun to show off their delicate beauty and today was just the right day for flower viewing with bright blue skies, a moderate wind and brilliant sunshine. We decided to visit Waylands Flower Reserve which is outside of Darling on the West Coast. Delicate and tiny flowers need to be viewed close by and the fields of yellow, white and mauve flowers make an appealing sight for city dwellers cooped up in offices all week long.

This 80 ha reserve is purely seasonal and is supposed to host around 300 species of flowers. It was turned into a reserve in 1922 by Frederick Duckett and the road was built in 1952 by his son. Cattle and sheep graze here during the summer months and in autumn they are moved elsewhere allowing the flowers to grow and bloom for their brilliant display in August and September. The animals are returned to the reserve after the flowers have all died off! An amazing conserservation effort which has been ongoing for approx. 140 years - hats off to the owners of this land that it has been allowed to remain as a West Coast gem and that the stunning flora of the region has been allowed to grow undisturbed. Displays do vary depending on good rains prior to flowering.



There was heavy rain on Friday so the reserve was very wet in many places - have you ever got slurped down a mud hole? It's quite a crazy feeling - whoops, the shoe goes down and you are stuck! Whip it out and carry on only to go down with a huge slurp and sucking sound - this time even deeper so that your shoe has vanished! Oh Sh.... and I still have to go to a restaurant for lunch? I haul my right foot out of this deep mud and slowly venture forth. No - the mud has not given up on me yet and down I go again. By this time, I feel like a royal idiot and start looking around for spectators. Luckily everybody is too far away except for a couple who are looking at me in amazement. What is she doing? So very slowly I venture forth again and whoops, another hole and even more mud. I must say at this poiint that these holes are not visible and the earth looks fine until you step on it! By now I am feeling like a total idiot so VERY carefully I try and aim for dry land.

Once back on the path I have to explain my muddy state to all the friendly people along the road - their kids are cleaner than I am.

It's a topic of conversation anyway and I hope my shoes will recover in the wash tomorrow!






© Judelle Drake


For Accommodation Cape Town, South Africa