Namaqualand. Dry, rocky and desert-like for the rest of the year, it yields
its floral wealth for a short few weeks in the spring in dazzling sheets of
colour.
The golden yellow and orange Namaqualand daisies are predominant, but in
between them are a wide variety of flowers, including the iridescent
succulent mesembryanthemums. Colours here are particularly intense, although
there is also much fascination in less colourful species such as the quiver
tree (the San, or Bushmen, used to make quivers from its fibrous stem) and
the bizarre-looking tall succulent known as the halfmens (half human).
And anyone interested in plants' abilitiesto adapt to harsh circumstances in
a myriad different ways (not all are succulents) need not wait for spring to
visit the area.
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