Day 7 – Wednesday 20 August

Nieuwoudtville

Located on the high Bokkeveld plateau it was a frosty start to our day in Nieuwoudtville. The group was divided between two guesthouses in the small town and we had all our meals at the busy, central Die Nedersetting Restaurant. The area is known for its high diversity of plants, notably geophytes, because of the varied soils that result from weathering of the titled layers of bedrock. Sandstone supports Fynbos, renosterveld vegetation grows on igneous dolerite and glacial tillite deposits and succulent Karoo on shales. We first visited Matjiesfontein, one of several farms situated on the fertile dolerite clay soils where previously cultivated land has now been left for wildlife.

Blue crane (Grus paradisea) amongst Ursinia cakilefolia

Babiana vanzijiae

Ixia rapunculoides

Moraea ciliata

Oxalis obtusa

Nemesia chieranthus

Flower carpet including blue Heliophila arenaria and orange Arctotis acaulis

We next visited a Oorlogskloof glacial pavement, which was created 300 million years ago when the area that is now South Africa was located at the South Pole as part of a giant continent called Gondwana. The grooves were made by rocks in the vast sheet glacier that gouged the smooth sandstone rock surface. The glacial pavement impedes water filtration and therefore plants such as beautiful Romulea with their lustrous petals enjoy the damp sandstone soils.

Glacial Pavement

Romulea pudica

Romulea sabulosa

Our afternoon visit was to Hantam National Botanic Garden. Not a garden as such, this was previously a farm that aimed to conserve the local biodiversity. It was purchased in 2007 by the South African National Biodiversity Institute and is now a reserve that includes areas of Nieuwouldtville Shale Renosterveld, Nieuwouldtville-Roggeveld Dolerite Renosterveld and Hantam Succulent Karoo vegetation.

Near the entrance was an area rich in spring flowers, then we took one of the walking routes towards the koppies (rocky outcrops).

Hantam National Botanic Garden

Lapeirousia oreogena

Bulbinella latifolia var. doleritica

Daubenya capensis

Romulea tortuosa

Ants carrying the flower-like seeds of Ursini sp.

Our last stop of the day was a private field which welcomes visitors to enjoy Bulbinella nutans, a glowing expanse of yellow in the evening sun.