Namaqualand - a succulent desert. There is a legend about Namaqualand , which reads -

"An angel, who was on her way to sow the bounty of seeds within her bag, never noticed that her well used and frayed bag had small holes while passing over Namaqualand . The seeds that escaped floated downwards with the winds and settled on the parched soils of Namaqualand . This unexpected bounty became the floral wonder of Namaqualand after each rainy season."

Biome

Namaqualand forms part of the Karoo-Namib biome, which stretches from southern Angola , down the west coast of Namibia and South Africa to well east of Graaff Reinett in the Great Karoo. Within this biome, we find the Succulent-Karoo biome, which is home to some 1,700 species of leaf succulent, of which the majority are dwarf forms. These include the stone plants and their allies, which are amongst the smallest perennial plants in the world. The Succulent-Karoo also holds an astonishing array of geophytes, which are seasonally active plants that store reserves in below ground organs, and a number of stem succulent species, normally found in other deserts worldwide.

Vegetation types

Namaqualand has the following vegetation types within its regions:

Knersvlakte - Dwarf to low succulent shrub land known as Vygieveld;

Hardeveld - Dwarf to low succulent shrub land (Vygieveld) in the lower altitudes, Namaqualand Broken Veld in the higher altitudes (taller shrubs and low trees that break the monotony of the low shrub cover) and Namaqualand Renosterveld (similar to the Fynbos of the Succulent Karoo) in the wetter upper reaches of the mountains;

Kamiesberg -Namaqualand Renosterveld and in the cooler, higher altitudes the Kamiesberg Fynbos (dense shoulder-height shrubs with small hard leaves);

Sandveld - Strandveld (sea type sands that support a variety of small shrubs and mesembs), Sandveld Fynbos (found inland from the sea with vegetation from the Fynbos biome), and in the higher altitudes the Vygieveld;

Richtersveld - Vygieveld, in the higher altitudes Namaqualand Brokenveld and in the wetter upper reaches of the mountains Namaqualand Renosterveld.

Hidden treasures

Other than the massive attention grabbing fields of spring daisies, which many thousands of visitors trek to see each year, the tourist explorer / adventurer needs to look in fine detail at what lies beneath. Here astonishing discoveries will be made as the veld unveils its hidden treasures to those who are prepared to take the trouble to explore. Each portion of the veld has its own complement of small juicy plants interlocked with other species, making the adventure more interesting by challenging you to identify some of the 3,000 species, distributed among 648 genera and 107 families.

Succulents

Succulents in Namaqualand comprise about one third of the Namaqualand flora and ten percent of the world's succulents. One of the most intriguing succulents is the Pachypodium namaquanum, a stem succulent, whose closest relative is in Madagascar , and which is endemic to the Richtersveld and Northern Bushmanland .

Shrubs

Shrubs in Namaqualand comprise some 650 species in 167 genera and 47 families of which most are evergreen. Fynbos, a Cape Floral Kingdom species, grows in Namaqualand as well.

Trees

Trees in Namaqualand grow mainly in the watercourses of the Hardeveld and Richtersveld, where there are about 35 species distributed amongst 24 genera and 13 families. Many of these species are arid-adapted dating from the times when Namaqualand was much wetter.

Bulb flora

As a desert, Namaqualand is uniquely blessed with a rich bulb flora of an astonishing 480 species distributed across 100 genera and 19 families. No other winter desert is blessed with this many bulb flora.

Annuals

Annuals are Namaqualand 's multi-coloured spring carpet, to which thousands of visitors trek each year to come and wonder. Some 330 species in 85 genera and 24 families grow in Namaqualand .