The Great Race is on. The Namakwaland flower season, one of the earth’s most spectacular natural phenomena, is now in fourth gear. Having started in late July in the arid northern Namakwaland, spring has bloomed and blossomed its way south – down through Nieuwoudtville, the bulb capital of the world, and the Cederberg mountain range. In the process creating a huge canvas of the northern and western Cape coastal belt. I can’t remember exactly where I took this  – it must’ve been between Langebaan and Clanwilliam – or what these plants are called. But I do know that this pic would’ve been taken soon after midday, for  that’s when these beauties open up wide, taking in every bit of the sun they can get. Before closing up with the going down of the sun, when the day’s engine switches off. https://www.lekkeslaap.co.za/akkommodasie/naries-namakwa-retreat

Read more

Cape Maclear, Malawi. This stunning location, devoid of tourist-crunch, speaks to typically colonial times in sub-Saharan Africa, when certain brave characters left their names attached to bridges, mountains and street names (even animals). One of them was Irishman Sir Thomas Maclear, who became her Majesty’s astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope in 1833. Wikipedia says he was “occupied in performing a geodesic survey for the purpose of recalculating the dimensions and shape of the Earth”. That would have been a helluva task back then, and speaks to things like glorious focus and not being distracted by a million devices.  Maclear apparently became close friends with David Livingstone, obviously drawn together by their common interest in the exploration of Africa. The crater Maclear on the Moon is named after him, as is the so-named town in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. Malawi to the Moon, who would’ve thought. http://www.geckolounge.net Cape Maclear

Read more

Sometimes Africa goes east, on this occasion to India, and a tea-drinker at a market in the north-eastern town of Shillong. I was initially surprised to see only one tourist in my week in Assam state, but the further I travelled in, the more I accepted – and thrilled in – it’s remoteness. At the time security forces were fighting off separatists somewhere near the Burmese border. This is awesome travel in the real sense of the word. http://www.iwte.in/purequest-adventures

Read more

As spring rushes towards us on the back of northern breezes, snug warm days tiptoe in wet socks between sodden cold fronts.  I’m counting down the petals to free-styling Namakwaland daisies and the short-lived season. http://www.melkboomsdrift.co.za

Read more