Nieuwoudtville
The Bulb Capital Of The World By Species Count More Species Of Bulb Grow On This One Stretch Of The Bokkeveld Escarpment Than Anywhere Else On Earth Which In A Year With Good Winter Rain Turns The Surrounding Farmland Into Flower Fields Of A Density That Even Namaqualand Does Not Match, And In A Dry Year Produces Nothing At All · Nieuwoudtville, Northern Cape
More species of bulb grow on this one stretch of the Bokkeveld escarpment than anywhere else on earth. That is a species-count claim rather than a size one, and it is worth being precise about because it is what separates Nieuwoudtville from Namaqualand two hundred kilometres north: Namaqualand does vast sheets of orange and white daisies, and this place does an extraordinary density of different things - bulbs, lilies, irises, harlequin flowers - in a patchwork across red clay farmland on top of an escarpment. In a year with good winter rain it is the finest flower country in the country and almost nobody is there, because the buses go to Namaqualand. In a dry year there is nothing at all, which this row says as plainly as the Namaqualand and Calvinia rows do, because the drive out here is a long one to make on hope, and the regional flower reports are published for exactly that reason.
On the Bokkeveld escarpment in the Northern Cape, 65 km south-west of Calvinia, Nieuwoudtville, Northern Cape, South Africa
A farming village. THE FLOWER SEASON IS ROUGHLY AUGUST INTO SEPTEMBER AND DEPENDS ENTIRELY ON WINTER RAIN - check the regional flower reports and the local tourism office before committing to the drive, because in a dry year the escarpment produces nothing. MUCH OF THE BEST GROUND IS PRIVATE FARMLAND and the farms that open for the season charge a modest access fee and keep daylight hours; the tourism office in the village is the place to find out which are open. The Hantam botanical garden and the Oorlogskloof reserve have their own gates and fees. FLOWERS ONLY OPEN IN DIRECT SUN and stay shut on an overcast day. The village has fuel, a shop and a handful of guesthouses that FILL COMPLETELY IN SEASON. MALARIA-FREE.