Imagine you have driven through the Kalahari Gemsbok Park, it’s hot and dry, the animals are lethargic from the heat.. and this is what the river bed looks like…..
BUT… some rain has fallen in some parts of the Park, you might not be able to see it under ground but the signs are there,.. Look at the green strip, that is water just below the surface….
Now imagine driving through the Kalahari after a good rainfall has fallen, a cloud break and a good soaking … would you expect to see this????? A river of flowers with the Gemsbok enjoying the occasion….
This is what makes Africa so beautiful… veld flowers that can lie dormant in seed form for years, and when the circumstances are right… the world is covered in flowers, and that in some of the most barren portions of South Africa.. Oh it is a tough country to live in …. ha ha ha ha…
Many thanks for the link Bulldog, and very much worth seeing. It’s quite amazing what nature can achieve, in even the most difficult of circumstances.
It is amazing the transformation that can happen, even if for just a short while .. and that beauty once seen is in your memory for ever…
So gorgeous! Like a fairyland.
Isn’t it.. one of our not often natural occurrences…
The last two with the flowers are wonderful 🙂
Thanks Inga..
All your photos are wonderful Bulldog but the third one is over the top! 🙂
Thanks LuAnn…
he he he my perfect English 🙂 “This is what I can not see or find easily”… but I am sure you have already understood. Sorry dear!
This is what I can see or find easily… How beautiful land… how amazing flowers… I haven’t known enough about your beautiful country before meeting your blog. But now, there is a dream to visit there too… You are amazing. These photographs so beautiful…. Thank you, love, nia
Thanks Nia.. it does not happen every year but when it does it is a wonderful sight to see…
Incredibly beautiful – in both stages, in different ways, actually.
Thank you.. it sure has beauty in both…
Lovely to see the effects of rain in the desert, bdt. Beautiful pics. 🙂
Thank you.. something special…
It is amazing how long the seeds can lie dormant waiting for rain. The gemsbok are beautiful and their horns look quite lethal.
That they are… but to see them romping in fields of flowers, it almost seems unreal…
Bob, bought a bag of lemons today … *smile
That looks very dry .. and VERY hot – and then all those pretty flowers suddenly.
The Gemsbok stunning animal … the nature is really amazing and I think you have the biggest adventures in Africa. What an amazing place.
Thanks Viveka… it’s a tough country to live in with all this beauty around us…
Amazing! What beautiful scenes these are, Bulldog 😀
Thanks Dianne
Would be great to see this in real life. Great photographs.
Once you have seen these sights you just want to keep going back… but it does not happen every year.. so when one sees it ..you’re privileged…
such a beautiful place!
Thank you…
The desert in bloom is absolutely amazing. Beautiful photo, Rob. I love it!
That is what can happen to a barren place… unbelievable… I love it too..
Loved this post, Bulldog!
Thank you.. a sight of beauty…
It looks almost unreal, as if they have been photoshopped onto the picture of the flowers! It’s not a common type of image we see.
This does not happen every year… but when the rain is right and the time of the year is right.. it is a sight second to none..
years ago, on a road trip down to Cape Town from home..I was driving at sun up.. I traveled for nearly 20 Km, wondering where this purple dust came from.. Linda woke and I showed her, she said it was flowers.. naturally I didn’t believe her so we stopped… it was our Vygies, they belong to the family Mesembryanthemaceae which make up a large and unique group of southern Africa’s flowers, especially in the more arid parts where they are adapted with low growth forms and fleshy succulent leaves. So many kilometers of flowers, just unbelievable..
Stunning! c
Thanks Cecilia… damn but I do love your name… I want another child (girl) so I can name her Cecilia… will be a bloody myrical but still…
My father was reading a book, when i was born, with a woman photographer in it called Cecilia. Mum and Dad took turns naming kids, It was Dads turn, I was going to be a Mona!! c
………………………..I’m ALMOST speechless…………..this is just SO incredible….all it takes is water, and beauty is just ready to make it’s appearance……is this a metaphor of some kind…..this could and does apply to humans……add a little love and people “blossom”…wonderful Rob 😉
It is just so prevalent down the west coast of South Africa.. this area gets more winter rain and it is a treat each year to head on down to view the flowers… people fly in from all over the world to see it… it is nothing to see a farm totally covered for as far as the eye can see, just all sorts of varieties of flowers… a tough country to live in with such beauty around, I’ll never be considered beautiful when competing with natures wonders…
🙂 :)…Don’t see yourself short! We all think you’re beautiful 🙂
Oh yes, definitely a rough life in Africa 😀 Great photos.
Yes what we have to put up with here… it’s tough…
Nature is powerful and beautiful indeed!
I agree… what a sight to see…
Oh wow! those last two pics are incredibly beautiful, Bulldog 🙂
Aren’t they just… man to see that… Africa gets in our blood they say… well my veins are full of it…
Oh yea! I’d kick up my heels too, if I were a gemsbok grazing on those flowery plains! 🙂
I agree… I want to lie down in them…
Nature is an awe-inspiring thing isn’t it? There is so much beauty around us, even in barren areas :).
This is just one of those things that would keep me here for ever…