Where history blooms — day trips in and around Springbok

Everyone wants to know: Where are the flowers looking best today?

The best way to experience the area is to first tour the town of Springbok. Find out where the available retail facilities are, and then drive up to the Namaqualand Museum, the former Jewish synagogue of Springbok.

The displays here cover quite a few layers of history, including the heyday of the local copper mining industry and the culture of the Nama people.

The flowers today could be out at Goegap Nature Reserve, about a 15-minute drive from the centre of town. This is where you’ll find yourself in a magnificently rocky landscape of little hills and valleys, populated by grand quiver trees, succulents, daisies and yet more daisies.

We’ve packed for a picnic, and so what could be finer right now than a shady tree for shelter, a sandwich and a wide-angle view of the seasonal Namaqua blooms all about?

The following day we go flower-tripping up to Nababeep, a nearby copper town. The road to Nababeep features pretty hillsides covered with orange daisies. They are at their most vivid near the old copper mine.

Clara, the steam engine that used to do the Port Nolloth copper run from this district, is still standing, but the museum has closed. The security guard tells us the display has been moved to the Okiep Country Hotel, so off we go.

The old Cornish beam pump and tall chimney greet us as we drive in. We pop in at the graveyard where legends lie buried: the Jowells, the Shapiros, the Gelbs and various Cornish miners.

At the Okiep Country Hotel, friendly staff lead us to a little museum room, where we photograph the displays. Some of the old monochromes catch our eye, like the mule train chugging up the Anenous Pass on its way to Port Nolloth.

The next day, we’re heading south on the N7 to Kamieskroon, at the foot of the Kamiesberge. This little town is the gateway to the impressive Skilpad Flower Reserve and the greater Namaqua National Park.

Once again, we have packed “road food” for this day trip, and as we slowly drive around the park, we munch our snacks and keep an eye out for meerkats, gemsbok and the odd ostrich among the display of flowers.

The following day, we’re “going coastal”, with a northbound drive up to Steinkopf and then cutting in towards the Atlantic coastline to the little hamlet of Port Nolloth, home of the legendary offshore diamond divers.

Port Nolloth wasn’t always about diamonds. Once upon a time, it was copper that put this speck on the map. Back in 1855, the Namaqua people called this misty cove Aukwatowa – “where the water took away the old man” – a name that hints at some long-lost tale of a fisherman and a greedy tide. 

The Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias spotted it in 1487, the last landfall before a storm blew him off course, but it wasn’t until the mid-19th century that the Cape Colony took notice. Copper was being clawed out of the hills around Okiep, 154km inland, and they needed a port to ship it out. 

After the local copper industry fizzled out, along came the discovery of diamonds along the Namaqua coast. And with that, eventually, came the divers, their long suction pipes and their little boats.

All of this we learn at the Port Nolloth Museum near the beachfront, before a leisurely lunch at the local hotel or one of a number of restaurants, and a slow drive back over the Anenous Pass down to our temporary base in Springbok.

Know before you go

• The most popular time to visit is between late July and the end of September. This is when (depending on rain) the horizons are full of spring flowers. If you haven’t seen this, add Springbok to your bucket list;
• Summer can be oppressively hot;
• Springbok makes an excellent base. Attractions are generally a short drive from town, which is well stocked with camping and grocery stores; and
• The Springbok Lodge and Restaurant is the best place to buy books on the region and the Northern Cape in general. DM

For an insider’s view on life in the South African Heartland, get the Karoo Quartet set of books (Karoo Roads I-IV with black and white photographs) for only R960, including taxes and courier costs in South Africa. For more details, contact Julie at julie@karoospace.co.za