Impromptu Langebaan Trip

Kash and I decided last minute to book a long weekend trip to Cape Town to go see the flowers up the west coast, literally last minute. My mom and dad had heard flights were on special and reports were that this was the best flower show on the west coast in years... what more incentive do you need to go to Cape Town? Kash and I never need an excuse to go to Cape Town and with this news we were online, scouring the net for flights as quickly as our thumbs could carry us. True enough flights were suitably cheap and we managed to find a great little place by the name of the Courtyard Blouberg for an absolute steal... We were off to Cape Town!!!

A short 2 hour flight and we were greeted by a somewhat unfamiliar sight, a wet, cold, and windy Cape Town. We had always been so fortunate to never get bad weather in Cape Town, despite the rumors we had heard that winter in the Cape can be miserable, although we never really did believe the rumors. But there it was miserably cold and wet... but as Kash always says Cape Town is like a beautiful woman, it doesn't matter whether she is throwing a tantrum, she's so beautiful you can't help but forgive her.

The next day after arriving, we set off for Langebaan in the West Coast National Park, expecting the best but prepared for the worst considering the weather and the forecast, but who believes weather forecasts any way, right? The weather held well and we drove through the occasional rain squall on route to the Park but it was looking promising and we held high hopes to be greeted by sun and a rainbow carpet of flowers. As we drove into the Park we were hit by a torrential downpour and our hearts sank as we knew that the flowers close up in these conditions and the spectacle is a great deal lessened with the flowers shut. I'd love to say our worries were for nothing, but as we made our way through the Park the rain turned to sleet and the mercury dropped to a minuscule 6 degrees centigrade in the middle of the day! Fortunately the rain was short-lived and the skies cleared to reveal the shining gem that is Langebaan.

The weather was not on our side unfortunately on the day and the flowers were all closed, but the wide open vistas of the west coast were reward enough. With all the rain around and the sun breaking through the clouds, we saw no less than eight rainbows through the day. I cannot get enough of this place, it is simply spectacular, flowers or no flowers, there is just something so serene and beautiful about the lagoon and the Park surrounding it and no two trips to this natural treasure are the same.