The Wild Wild, West

Way up the Cape’s West Coast – along a stretch of wild country where arid scrubland collides with an icy ocean – you’ll discover Namaqualand in all its glory. Best of all, if you plan your trip during the secret ‘Green Season’, you’ll have it all to yourself…

- Jacques Marais

THE Namaqua West Coast is unlike any place else in South Africa, that’s for sure. It’s a region that incorporates both vast desertscapes and endless stretches of shoreline, making for a destination of truly breathtaking divergence and jaw-dropping contrasts.

Geologically and ecologically, the area is situated upon that tipping point where the coastal plains butt up against an inland escarpment. Travellers who trip into this place will find themselves surrounded by a minimalist landscape where, over many eons, the onslaught of extreme elements have shaped a space rugged beyond belief.

Terra firma bristles with a profusion of bulbs and succulents, while stark quiver trees and enormous granite outcrops spike high against the blue sky. During spring – and seemingly overnight – the sand-blown ridges and plains are transformed into a floral wonderland with the arrival of a fullon flower bloom.

It is, however, autumn that reigns supreme as the secret ‘Green Season’ and the best way to immerse yourself within the Namaqua West Coast (and the Namaqua Coastal Route just a bit further north) is to get off the beaten track. Pick a road, any gravel road, and gear up for a mind-warping voyage of discovery.

These back roads offer the best way to immerse yourself in the timelessness of nature, slowly tick-tocking along to the rhythm of an unseen geological clock. All around will be fresh air by day, and infinite, star-studded skies by night.

Chances are you will go for days without encountering any fellow homo sapiens, except, of course, if you should decide to venture into the wonderful, quirky and quaint dorps dotting the region. Kamieskroon, Kleinzee, Doringbaai, Papendorp, Koingnaas, the fabled (and rather infamous) Hondeklip Bay: each and every one of these tiny hideaway villages brims with stories and characters.