Project Description
North Cape 2006
The Richtersweld park, which preserves its natural and somewhat wild nature, is located in the North West corner of South Africa bordering Namibia. There are many varieties of flora which is only found in this area.
Rugged kloofs, high mountains and dramatic landscapes that sweep away inland from the Orange River divulge the fact that you are now in the vast mountain desert that is the Richtersveld National Park, an area managed jointly by the local Nama people and the South African National Parks.
The Richtersweld park, which preserves its natural and somewhat wild nature, is located in the North West corner of South Africa bordering Namibia. There are many varieties of flora which is only found in this area.
The transportation within the Richtersweld park is only possible with 4X4 wheel drive and it is absolutely necessary to make bookings in advance, as there are a limited amount of hostels and camping spots.
The park boasts over 700 varieties of plants among them: Aloe Dichotoma, Aloe pillansii, Euclea, Ficus Cordata, Codon royenii, Osteospermun, Cotyledon Orbiculata, Euphorbia Dregeana, Opophytum, Pachypodium namaqunum, Crassula Deceptor, Meserrbryanthemum, Opophytum, and much more.
We stayed at the Tataberg Camp, very far away but with distinct and interesting features.The travel in the park is slow but it is worthwhile to observe the different species of plants and one should plan to include many stops and a number of days. At the entrance to the park you can receive a list of the plants that grow there (over 700 different varieties) as well as local maps. It is advisable to travel with 2 vehicles and full load of appropriate equipment.
Alexander Bay is named after Sir James Alexander, who began large scale copper mining in 1836.
Southeast of Alexander Bay is a lichen field containing 30 species of green and orange lichen. There are plans to declare this field a National Monument.
Alexander Bay is presently changing into a living museum. This concept extends the traditional exhibit type of museum to include other activities focusing on biodiversity and cultural experiences.
In 1927 the geologist Hans Merensky discovered diamonds at Alexander Bay. The goverment formed a company, Alexkor Limited, that still does the mining in the area. More recently Alexkor has diversified into tourism.
In the city we visited the local museum and met it’s director, who is also a qualified botanist. She had a key to an area that belonged to the place where different and varied Lithops and Lichen grow, all the soil is of a quartz character.
From there we continued our trip in the direction of Pofadder, and with a little bit of luck and some pointed questions found a farmer who on his land grows Lithops. He directed us to travel another 6 km south on the highway, where we would found a ladder by which we could climb and cross into the private land to view some large Lithops only native to this area.
