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the West Coast National Park.
Dreamer and I had been trying to get to WCNP for the past 2 weeks and on Friday 14th we managed to get it right. The sun was shining…that was all the encouragement we needed.
We left home at 9h00 and had arrived in WCNP by 11h00…no matter which way you try to exit Cape Town at the moment the road works catch you.
There were only 3 cars in front of us at the entrance gate. After a brief stop to get the cameras sorted we headed off to Abrahamskraal Waterhole. There is a new birdhide there..well new since I was there last.Tony T has posted photos here
There were many Red-Knobbed Coots with chicks, Dabchicks and Sacred Ibises around. We didn’t stay there for too long. Postberg was calling.
Along the way we saw an Ostrich and then a Pied Crow, then another Ostrich and another Pied Crow and then yet another Ostrich and…..
At last we entered Postberg and headed up to Uikyk.
The plain on the left as you enter Postberg and drive up to Uitkyk was alive with animals. Gemsbok, Wildebeest, Springbok, Zebra with babies and Bontebok with babies. Bat – Eared foxes were to be seen as well. Tortoises were in abundance as well…we stopped counting at 12...



Although the usual carpets of flowers were not really at their best it was a still a stunning sight.



We parked up at Uitkyk. Unfortunately it was a bit windy and the skies were clouding over. This made the photography a bit more on the challenging side. Uitkyk has many different flowers and one doesn’t even need to walk far to see them.



Dreamer and I were soon hard at work. Unfortunately I do not know many of the names of these flowers. If anybody can ID them for me please go ahead…It is time to buy a book on West Coast Flowers.

Kus Gousblom – Arctotis Stoechadifolia

flower 2 … same as flower1 ( I think)

flower 3

Pienk froetang – Romulea hirsuta

Reenblommetjie( rain flower) – Dimorphotheca pluvialis

An Oxalis of sorts???


To be continued when the page turns....

There were many of what I would call “vygies” up at Uitkyk.
Beautiful orange ones...



and pink ones.



Of course the position that one gets oneself into while photographing these flowers was bound to entertain some of the other visitors. I am also very careful to check the surrounds before I crouch down…it wouldn’t do to sit on a snake. No matter how hard I look something always manages to jump out and give me fright though.

This time it was this character..



Some sort of lizard ..anybody know it's proper name???

After a while I decided that my hunger pang could no longer be ignored so I went off to find Dreamer. Her hunger pang was also long since out of control so we made our way back to the Jeep and Chicken Mayo Rolls. Dreamer sure knows how to make a CMR. Of course it didn’t take long for the Hartlaub’s Gulls to come begging. I stood there watching them and telling them that no matter how much they posed for me I was not going to disturb my lunch and photograph them.





Okay so the gulls got the better of me


Plankiesbaai up next.

Really ha ha ha.
I would have thought a buttercup was a botterkoppie in Afrikaans
Just shows you how good my Afrikaans is
Thanks Billy

After lunch we continued down to Plankiesbaai. It really was a very enjoyable view with wildebeest as well bontebok and springbok in the distance. I am not used to seeing wildebeest lying in a meadow of flowers !



There were many Cattle Egrets loafing in the amongst the flowers and plenty of Cape Francolin (Spurfowl ?) perched on the bushes.





We parked right at the end of the road at Plankiesbaai. The orange vygies growing on the rocky slope were magnificent.





There were one or two clumps of pink vygies in amongst the orange ones.
They looked a bit out of place.



At this point a tourist from England walked up to me and told me that she had never ever seen such a spectacular sight in all her life before. The following photo is that of my view while she was speaking to me…



I stood for a moment and just soaked up the scenery..the squawking gulls, the crashing waves, the brightly coloured flowers, the fresh sea air…..and I live less than 2 hours away. I didn’t really need to hear the English Tourist telling me how lucky I was…I already knew that !!!

Dreamer and I had a bit of fun with the gulls…..Why must the silly gulls fight over the poles…there were many places for them to perch!





We realised that we had better get a move on if we still wanted to go to Tsaarsbank.

Our last look at Plankiesbaai

Oh my word !!! So much has happened since our ADSAL line got washed away with all the rain we have had here in CT!!
Caracal...you are so on the ball!!
Folks , thankyou, but all the compliments need to go to Caracal because I have not contributed here at all
We really did have a super time in the park but 1 day is too short. Can't do flower spotting and bird watching in such a short time..well at least.....I can't
A fine way to recharge one's batteries. Go out for the day to such a beautiful place and you are well on the way to being recharged
Thanks Caracal for the drive....maybe needs to be done again this season but I'm struggling with time management
A compliment to the gate attendant at the main gate to WCNP! He was so interested in what we had seen and was full of encouragement for us to return again. He was
so disappointed that we had not spotted a Caracal and said that was a sign for us to be back soon

On the way to Tsaarsbank we noticed that the flowers were starting to close. It served as a reminder to us that we had better get a move on. We spotted a Jackal Buzzard perched on a boulder in the distance. I was hoping to see a Black Harrier but no such luck. We arrived at Tsaarsbank and within seconds we had spotted two oystercatchers. I was really thrilled with this sighting…for once they were close enough for a photo.



After spending a while on the beach photographing the shipwreck, Pantalis a Lemos (wrecked in 1978) and the screeching gulls we made our way back to the car.





As I was about to get into the car I saw a whale out at sea. I grabbed my binoculars to make sure ..oh yes my first whale sighting of the season. We both agreed that it was a Southern Right Whale .

Thereafter we made our way to the gate. We had to have just one more go at photographing the pink sour fig flowers though.



This was our last chance to spot a caracal. Twice our hearts missed a beat but both times it was a Steenbok that we had spotted…we arrived at the gate only to be told that if we backtracked 350m we stand a good chance of seeing a caracal. We had 15mins until the gates closed….so we duly went back and sat out the very last few minutes…..we never did see the caracal.

It just means that I will have to go back again….and again …and again

Thanks p@m, Tony T and Annalie.

Yes the WCNP is really and truly a magic little place. The photographic opportunities are endless....the views spectacular...and it literally took me half an hour to get from Table View. Unfortunately I do not live in Table View. It took me another 45mins from Table View to home I did a 300km round trip and now have 300 hrs of photo processing ahead of me !!! But more importantly a day in WCNP really rejuvenates the soul and makes one realise that living in the city is not so bad because we have such beautiful places on our doorstep that we can visit.

Thanks to all for reading this mini Trip Report.