In a country that has such outstanding wildlife and birdlife and variety of scenery, it is amazing to discover that there is another bounteous area at the southern and western parts of the Cape Province. With magnificent coastal areas, a wide variety and abundance of flowers and plants, and a very amenable climate, this area is another sparkling jewel in southern Africa's treasure chest.

This website does not contain pictures of Cape Town and surroundings, but does have a few pictures taken along the West Coast and at the Kirstenbosch gardens in Cape Town, on this page.

The picture above is a composite of two photos taken of the Langebaan lagoon, in the West Coast National Park. The lagoon attracts thousands of migratory waders and other species every year. It has very bright, clear blue water that is cleaned by colonies of white mussel at the bottom of the lagoon. The Langebaan lagoon is one of the most important marsh areas in the world.

During the springtime, the reserve and surrounding areas are amass with flowers. The West Coast National Park also has a small number of game species, such as eland, bontebok, black wildebeest and blue wildebeest. In the first picture, a bontebok is standing amongst the flowers. There are at least four species of flowers in the second picture. In the third picture, waves of the cold Atlantic ocean wash against a rocky shore covered with hundreds of flowers. The last picture is also in the West Coast National Park.

Further north along the coast, is Lambert's Bay, a small fishing village with a large bird sanctuary. Wild flowers grow right to the beach as shown in the first and last pictures. The centre picture was taken somewhere south of Lamberts Bay where the road hugs the coastline.

These pictures were taken in areas to the west of Kamieskroon, in the Namaqualand area. The first picture was taken in the Skilpad reserve. The remaining three pictures were taken along the Soebatsfontein road, at various stops within about 5 miles after the turn-off from the N7.

The first two pictures were taken at the outskirts of Kamieskroon. The third picture was taken near Springbok, and the last near Biedouw Valley, just outside Clanwilliam.

The above photos were taken at the Kirtsenbosch Gardens in Cape Town. The Gardens are situated on the slopes of Table Mountain seen in the first, third and fourth pictures. The second photo is of a view of Cape Town from the Gardens.

There are an abundance of proteas at Kirstenbosch; in the first picture, pincushion proteas. In the third picture, King Protea. In the fourth, Leucandendron.

Pincushion proteas in the third photo, and a junior King protea in the last.

The Smallest Kingdom
Excerpted from "African Wildlife", Volume 31, No. 3

"It is a kingdom tossed among crags and kloofs - strange and beautiful and solitary. A land too difficult for man, too twisted and contorted by rock, too grudging and infertile. Yet, from this poor and spiritless earth, has grown the world's most dazzling explosion of wild plants, the Cape Fynbos. "

"Five other kingdoms sprawl across the continents, but the greatest riches are here, in the smallest kingdom, in this jagged realm on the far edge of Africa. Not even the rain forests of the Amazon can compete with the variety of flowers that belong to the Cape mountains and the restless sands that fall along the sea. But today this is a kingdom under siege."

"`Satellite photographs and maps have shown that the Fynbos has shrunk by 60%', says Dr Anthony Hall of the Bolus Herbarium. `The remaining 18,000 square km is slightly less than the area of the Kruger National Park.'"

"The Cape floral kingdom is the smallest kingdom in the world, and it keeps getting smaller every day. World plant geographer Ronald Good first suggested that the Cape had the richest of the six world floras when he completed an international survey in 1964. More recently, Dr Hall estimated that the Fynbos had 1,300 species per 10,000 square km. `This is richer than a factor of three than the nearest competitor, an area in Central America with 420 species per 10,000 square km'. He says: `Although there are drawbacks to this method of comparison, the indication it gives of the relative richness of the Cape floral kingdom is indeed spectacular.'"

The Cape Floral Kingdom
Excerpted from "Island Africa", by Jonathan Kingdon, Princeton, 1989

"The Cape itself is subject to two seasonal contrasts that are unique in Africa. Summer droughts are reinforced by very strong desiccating winds which turn the landscape into a tinderbox that only needs a spark of lightning to set it alight. By contrast, low winter temperatures delay evaporation so that plants can make the very best use of relatively meager rain. Consequently the Cape flora has nearly ideal conditions for growth in winter, but must adapt to fierce summer fires. The product is 'fynbos', low bush dominated by heaths, proteas, sedges and rushes (Restionaceae) and many bulbous flowers such as irises and lilies.
Being exceptionally well adapted to the local climate and soils explains the pre-eminence of these families. Their further explosion into hundreds of species has been promoted by the very peculiar structure of a terrain that is dissected up into a mosaic of 'cells' within a region of three climatic extremes. The mountains and valleys of the Cape have served as 'population traps', each with its own enclosed environment yet each positioned within a larger gradient. Each minor shift in the boundaries has allowed some species to escape their particular redoubt while others have remained firmly parochial.
The Cape flora and fauna have always been isolated from tropical Africa by a succession of barriers. Only the most adaptable and generalized of animals and plants have overcome all hurdles. Many older textbooks and atlases show the Cape with 'a Mediterranean' climate and environment; like the inappropriate naming of African animals after European models, this is primarily a reflection of the origin of early biologists and geographers. It is true that the climate suits vines and other Mediterranean plants. The grey bush that covers the slopes above Paarl resembles the "macchia" of Provence being fire-induced, hard-leaved species and heaths flourish in both regions, but it is misleading resemblance. For one thing the Mediterranean is much poorer in number of species and, of course, there are no proteas and none of the tight mosaic of different communities that interrupt each valley and cliff face of the Cape. Sadly the Mediterranean simile has become more and more justified as vineyards, farms and villages elbow the indigenous vegetation into ever small enclaves.
The other great difference is stability. Global fluctuations in climate meant mass extinction in Europe during the Ice Ages. In southern Africa moving a few kilometers to the east or west was all that was needed to survive. Now that the unique climate stability of the Cape and its lack of disturbance over some 60 million years has been recognized, the region has come to be identified as a major focal point for the evolution of flora. There are known to be 7000 species of plants in an area the size of Wales, more than half of which are endemic."

West Cape National Park (Langebaan)
http://www.ecoafrica.com/saparks/other/langeban.htm

West Cape Tourism
http://www.wcapetourism.co.za/

Botanical Gardens of South Africa
http://www.botanicalsociety.org.za

National Botanical Institute
http://www.nbi.ac.za

NBI Protea Project
http://www.nbi.ac.za/protea