Near Biedouw Valley

On the way to Biedouw Valley, the road passed a sandy low-lying catchment area. This area was covered with thousands of mostly pastel pink and blue flowers, with some of the frequent orange, yellow and white colours. Having seen so many mixtures and varieties in the previous ten days, once again here was a completely new assortment of flowers.

To reach the Biedouw Valley from Nieuwoudtville, the R364 route was taken. This is a gravel road passing through interesting landscape starting with mesa type typography in the Hantam, and gradually becoming more mountainous as one neared the Cedarberg and Biedouw Mountains. The vegetation was reasonably thick with many flowers and photographic opportunites for those who had the time. In parts, the road could be described as challenging, with one or two steep mountain-hugging descents all under gravel.

Continuing on after Biedouw Valley on the same R364 road to Clanwilliam, the road passed the turn-off to the largest game reserve in the area. This reserve includes not only fauna and many bird species, but rock art and displays of spring flowers. In the reserve, many wildlife species have been returned to the land where they once roamed in large herds.