SAFARI SCHMAFARI. THERE’S A WHOLE OTHER SIDE TO SOUTH AFRICA THAT’S JUST WAITING TO BE EXPLORED.

It’s just cool enough for a light jacket at night. The South African winter is giving way to spring. Soon enough, summer will scorch the land again and the shimmering pink, deep purple, and fiery orange wildflowers that now coat the country’s west coast will disappear. Dry earth will rule. But on this night, that’s all far from the minds of the people gathered atop the roof of a salmon-colored guesthouse in the small town of Garies. Instead, the crowd is focused on a woman not even five feet tall.


Like a shrunken apple doll, 81-year-old Grietjie Adams’s face is all cheeks. An enormous pale-pink ruffled bonnet that would have made a pioneer woman proud is perched on her head. Her voice is high and reedy, but she commands complete attention. As she sings, a lanky young man wearing a feathered hat and holding a pipe in his mouth demonstrates a local dance, his movements mimicking the elegance of the antelope and other animals that bound through Adams’s folk songs.

Seven days into a nine-day trip up the west coast of South Africa, even the people who can’t speak Afrikaans understand the meaning of those songs. Adams’s passion and movements and the man’s dance are infused with the beauty, traditions, and cultures of Namaqualand, named for the Nama people.

This is not the land of the “big five,” the animals that lure most visitors to South Africa. The west coast is, in many ways, quieter than safari hot spots like Kruger National Park. But from the Cape of Good Hope, in the south, up to the administrative capital of Namaqualand, Springbok, 300 miles to the north, the country is no less riveting.

AN AFRICAN PENGUIN CHICK, its downy coat still thick, looks incredibly grumpy. Closer to the water, an older bird cautiously makes its way down a boulder, sticking its head out after each step to see what lies ahead. A boardwalk runs through the entire penguin colony, offering tourists intent on loading their digital cameras with memories the chance to take the perfect shot from just a few feet away.

A short drive from the city center of Cape Town, Boulders Beach and Foxy Beach are great places to start an exploration of the natural wonders of the west coast -- and the penguin joy is just the beginning of a day that will be spent looping around the Cape Peninsula before heading north, away from the city.

But our small white car isn’t going anywhere fast anytime soon. A baboon has claimed the hood as the perfect hangout. It looks like a bored teenager sitting around outside a suburban mall. But this kind of encounter is to be expected on the road to the Cape of Good Hope, at the southwestern tip of the peninsula. The area is loaded with baboons. (Windows rolled up and doors locked are musts on this road.) Everybody on the way into the nature reserve is forced to navigate around tumbling, playful baboon babies, whose mothers look on with an all-too-human “what is he getting into now?” scowl.

Once past the initial baboon obstacle course, the road winds deeper into Table Mountain National Park. Ostriches barely take notice as hikers wander by. Then it’s time to get out of the car and take a short ride up in the funicular (or hike up, up, up the stairs) for a view of the Cape of Good Hope. At more than 700 feet above sea level, the cliffs here are among the highest in the world. The water below is every shade of blue, from bright aqua to deep navy.

THE MOUNTAINS GO FROM SANDSTONE TO SHALE. They begin their ascent to the sky terraced, then are rounded, and, up north in the Goegap Nature Reserve, piles of rock that erupted from the earth thousands of years ago look like they were placed there by heavy machinery.

There is no one way to describe the west coast. Just as it becomes familiar, it shifts.

But it is early spring -- especially after a wet winter -- that brings the biggest change. While the east coast of South Africa has dry winters, the west coast’s wet winter months deliver an early spring surprise: one of the best wildflower shows in the world. African flaxes turn huge swaths of land a purplish blue. Daisies, their orange, pink, or yellow petals with a nearly metallic sheen, cover entire mountains. Spiky pincushions give off a touch of sweet, drawing sugarbirds to swing by for a drink, their long beaks dipping in for nectar.

Drive toward the sun and the fields look green. But as you go by, take another look -- they’re actually a carpet of flowers all turned facing the sun. The same is true of entire mountain ranges. First, they appear green, but then, they’re pink or orange, purple or brilliant white.

As much fun as it is to discover another new-to-you flower, watching the flower watchers is also quite a bit of fun. They go belly down on the ground to snap close-ups. They tumble off the buses, some of which are clearly more luxurious than others, and spread out in search of their own spot under the South African sun. Some people are on a search for a particular bloom, while others are open to discovery, waiting to see what’s next.

THE WOMEN WHO own Red Cedar Cosmetics, located in the small village of Wupperthal, are working in the company’s soap-making facility and haven’t had time to finish labeling all the bars, but it doesn’t matter -- customers are snapping them up, anxious to take home the rich smell and luxurious feel of products made with locally grown rooibos tea. Here, at the base of the Cederberg mountains, four-year-old Red Cedar Cosmetics is a growing business in a town that hasn’t seen much growth for years.

Though it’s just 46 miles from the nearest town of Clanwilliam, Wupperthal, which was founded by German Rhenish missionaries in 1830, feels incredibly isolated. To get here, you have to descend down a long gravel road into the valley, passing by farmers who still rely on donkey carts to collect the honeybush they sell for tea as you go. While telephone lines stretch across the valley, there is little evidence of other modern technologies.

It takes but a second to completely relax in Wupperthal. A complete tour of the town, including the bakery, the Wupperthal Shoe Factory, and the local cemetery and church, doesn’t take much longer.

The bare-bones feeling of Wupperthal is a stark contrast to a destination just a few hours away: the five-star Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve and Retreat.

Shortly after arriving at Bushmans Kloof, after the bags have been whisked away to rooms that are straight out of a dream of the perfect South African lodge, it’s time for the first game drive through the reserve in an open 4x4.

It’s startling to see a zebra in the wild for the first time. This one, a Cape mountain zebra, has an orange patch above its nose. And those stripes, those dazzling stripes. Are they white on black? Black on white? The debate rages on. Then, a herd of springbok race by, their ridged antlers stand tall and their sides are marked with a telltale swoosh. A female bontebok, bothered by her teen son, chases him away; soon enough, an older male makes it clear that there’s only room for one male in the area, and the young bontebok is chased once more.

The next morning, it’s back into the 4x4 for a drive to one of Bushmans Kloof ’s highlights, the Bleeding Nose rock-art site, painted by the San bushmen as many as 30,000 years ago. Once there, and before heading off on foot, our guide, Jacques, serves breakfast at the back of the truck. An elephant shrew, one of South Africa’s “little five,” darts around, entertaining the group until the coffee is gone. Then, it’s off to the site. The paintings were made by tapping a small tool loaded with pigment against the rock. While the San used several colors, including yellow made of yellow ocher, white from clay and ostrich-egg shells, and black from charcoal, just the stain of the red ocher, made by mixing ocher with sweat, tears, or animal blood, remains. “They believed you had to give something of yourself,” says Jacques.

Nearly a quarter of the paintings that pepper the Cederberg mountains are of eland, an animal that was particularly sacred to the San. “They would prove fitness before marriage by killing their first eland,” Jacques tells us. “They believed it was the smartest, and God’s favorite, animal.” Along with several eland images on the oyster-shell-shaped rock at Bleeding Nose are paintings of mongooses, giraffes, and the site’s namesake figure, a shaman with a bleeding nose.

THE WAVES KEEP THREATENING to douse everybody walking out to Bird Island, just offshore from the seaside town of Lambert’s Bay. They crash over the giant concrete forms piled up to protect the harbor and land hard on the causeway.

At first, it’s nearly impossible to hear anything but the power of the ocean. Then, with the waves safely dodged, the squawking becomes audible. Though Bird Island is also home to cormorants and, at times, penguins, it’s the Cape gannets that try to grab all the attention. It’s hard to ignore them. Between 4,000 and 6,000 pairs of the birds use the island as home base; their guano sits thick on the ground.

In the morning, after a drive down the final stretch of the coast (and a stop to watch a squadron of pelicans feeding and a visit to one last roadside gift shop to purchase local crafts, including tiny guinea-hen dolls made from seed pods), it’s back to Cape Town traffic. Though it’s a relatively calm day weatherwise, Table Mountain is, as always, creating its own weather. It’s shrouded in stormy clouds and seems to say, “Nothing left to see here; go home.” Though there wasn’t a single lion or elephant spotted along the way, there are no regrets on this trip, no feeling that the true South Africa is still out there, waiting. Surely, Grietjie Adams, a star of the west, would agree.



from bobotie to biltong and beyond

all that wandering about requires some hearty chow. thanks to the wide range of cultures that have landed in south africa over its history, there are plenty of big flavors to choose from. vegetarians beware: south africans are fairly meat obsessed. it’s mutton all around as you go north, and in cape town and beyond, whole stores are dedicated to selling biltong, the south african version of beef jerky. (not meat shy? try the eland biltong. really.) here are some of the specialties to look for as you move up the coast.

genuine south african cuisine: treat yourself to a special experience by calling mymoena poggenpoel a few days before you head toward cape town. less than an hour away, in the fishing village of kalk bay, poggenpoel cooks for tourists in her home. as long as she’s not busy, she’ll whip up specialties such as bobotie (a highly spiced dish of minced meat over rice), rock lobster, sardine cakes, or a spicy chicken curry. the heat builds slowly, but it gets there. (011-27-21-788-7179)

rooibos tea: grown only on the western coast of south africa, rooibos is the default tea in that country -- and a very tasty one at that. to see how it’s grown, consider taking a tour of the groenkol rooibos tea estate, just outside of clanwilliam. to book a tour, contact annette or chris du plessis. (011-027-27-482-2022, www.elandsberg.co.za)

braai chicken: it’s the rare home in south africa that doesn’t have an outdoor barbecue, known as a braai. if you can’t befriend a local or two, try mzoli’s place (ny 115, shop 3, guguletu, cape town; 011-27-21-638-1355) or cape courtyard restaurant (kronendal estate, 142 main road, hout bay; 011-27-21-790-5837).

fried hake: forget cod; in south africa, hake is king of the deep fry (along with calamari). your best bet for fresh-as-can-be hake? the takeout shops in the commercial fishing and seaside towns that pepper the coast.

malva pudding: a spongy, sweet cake made with apricot jam and plenty of sugar and topped with custard.

koeksisters: take a short braided piece of fried dough, dip it in sugar syrup, and eat. your teeth will hurt. the rest of you will be happy.

if you go

in some towns, hotel rooms are few and far between. to make life easy, reserve rooms in advance. hotels to consider along the way include:

– andros boutique hotel in cape town
(www.africanpridehotels.com)

– bushmans kloof wilderness reserve and
retreat (www.bushmanskloof.co.za)

– clanwilliam lodge in clanwilliam
(www.clanwilliamlodge.co.za)

– the farmhouse hotel in langebaan
(www.thefarmhouselangebaan.co.za)

– lambert’s bay hotel in lamberts bay
(www.lambertsbayhotel.co.za)

– melkboomsdrift guest lodge in vredendal
(www.westcoaststay.co.za)

– old mill lodge in springbok
(www.oldmilllodge.com)

– sophia guest house in garies
(www.northerncape.org.za)

if you’d rather pay attention to the sights and leave the driving (and guiding) to the pros, set up a customized tour through cape town-based specialized tours (www.specialtours.co.za).