Nieuwoudtville is a charming village with many old homes built of local sandstone. It is built near the edge of the plateau which falls away to the Knersvlakte in the west. Known as the bulb capital of the world, Nieuwoudtville boasts an amazing diversity of plants, most of which flower in spring (August – September). It is a mecca for flower tourists.
We headed to the local impressive church where the parish ladies had set up an information office, handicrafts stall and were selling delicious pancakes and coffee. Just what we needed to fill the gap. The grounds about the church were covered with yellow daisies and green albucas and the rest of the town was ablaze with orange daisies, calling out for photo stops.
After lunch we found Swiss Villa, a lovely Victorian house on the edge of the village. We had booked their self-catering stables unit for 2 nights. After checking in and unpacking we set off to explore a bit further, travelling a few kilometres out of town to see a glacial pavement where movement in the previous ice age had left striations, or drag marks on the rocks. To me, the non expert, it looked like a well worn old road. It was surrounded by an array of lovely flowers including tortoise berry bushes, yellow bulbinellas and red Romulea sabulosa. On the road verges the pink aandbloms (Hesperantha sp.) had opened for the evening.
Kokerboom Forest and Waterfall
Heading back to town we popped into the local Spar to buy provisions for supper and then set off to drive the 24 kms to the Kokerboom Forest. Usually found in Namibia, the kokerbooms or quiver trees, cover several arid hillsides here. They are a spectacular sight, but sadly are being affected by the ongoing drought /climate change and several are dying whist there is little evidence of new plants. The sun was setting as we headed back to town, stopping at the waterfall for quick visit in the fading light. This is also a special sight as the Doorn River tumbles 90m into its sandstone gorge. Surrounding the waterfall were yellowy green euphorbias and botterbooms with thick shiny stems. We scurried home to warm up and cook supper and settle in for our first night in Nieuwoudtville.
Day 2 in Nieuwoudtville
After breakfast we headed out again in search of flowers, this time to the Hantam National Botanical Garden which is located just outside town. The roadside leading to the offices boasted a stunning collection of daisies, just calling for a photo stop. We also spotted some birds with red heads which may have been Red Bishops. The garden has several walks and we opted to head to Camel Koppie as this would take us over the sandstone to the dolerite koppies. It was very interesting to see how the vegetation changed with the changing soils. We were lucky to see some of the red bulbinellas and daubenyas flowering. It was disturbing to see the crows harassing the sheep with young lambs in the camp next door.
We returned hot, thirsty and hungry to the trusty bakkie and decided to visit the nearby Skuinskoekpaleis for a curry filled vetkoek to sustain an afternoon of more flower gazing. I had become rather addicted to their skuinskoek. These are small doughnuts made of mosbolletjie dough which is slightly flavoured with aniseed. Crispy on the outside and soft inside, they were totally moreish.
In the afternoon we headed further south down the road popping in at Matjiesfontein and on to Papkuilsfontein, but found that just traveling slowly along the road and stopping frequently allowed us to see and photograph an amazing variety of flowers. By 4pm we were back in town, stocking up on provisions for supper and then we headed off down a gravel road to the N of the town to find the old farm of Ou Plaas. This farm has 2 beautiful angels in its Steenkamp family graveyard which are clearly visible from the road. It was sad to see the bushes encroaching, but the angels were rather magical in the evening light. And so it was back to town to cook supper for the last night of our road trip.
Heading home
It was rainy the next morning as we left Nieuwoudtville and took a last photo of an enormous old almond tree in blossom. As we approached the Vanrhyns Pass, the mist grew thicker and we made our way cautiously down the pass, unable to enjoy the usual spectacular view it offers. Once down on the knersvlakte the mist and rain disappeared and we were able to stop and photograph some of the flowers there and the beautiful mountains. Sadly I could not find any of the tiny white Moreas I remember from before.
In VanRhynsdorp we visited the succulent nursery and I came away a lot poorer, then we headed down the N7 past Clanwilliam and on to Citrusdal, looking for a nice padstal for lunch. We ended up driving up the Piekenierskloof pass to the Tolhuis where we had roosterkoek. Adequate, but we both regretted not ordering one of their flatbread/pizzas which looked so good.
We headed back down the pass and through Citrusdal to take the R303 to Ceres. This is a very scenic route with the spectacular Middelberg Pass which is not tarred, although much of the route is. The earlier parts are through unspoilt fynbos vegetation with proteas thick beside the road, and further along are cereals and beef farms and then extensive fruit orchards. We came down the Gydo Pass and reached Ceres at about 4pm, did a bit of shopping and were home at KSU by 5pm.
And so ended our grand Great Karoo adventure which had been full of amazing scenery, good food, lovely flowers, sheep, windmills, churches and those special rocks. I had travelled almost 3,000kms in the 10 days. I had taken almost 500 photos and P who is an excellent photographer even more. What a lot of lovely memories to look back on and I hope you have enjoyed coming along for the ride too.
Nieuwoudtville Gallery
