Latest / Wander the World with Pippa Hudson / Wander the World: West Coast flower and foodie tour

Transcript

Wander the World: West Coast flower and foodie tour · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Join the conversation. This is Kate Talk. Every year, literally
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: thousands of people head up the West Coast hoping to
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: catch one of nature's most spectacular spectacles. Carpets of wildflowers
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: stretching as far as the eye can see. It's something
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I've never had the privilege of seeing myself, except in
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: its very small early stages, and even then it was impressive.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: But my parents have been, I've seen their photographs, friends
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: have been and shared video with us, and it is
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: something truly extraordinary to see fields of flowers stretching in
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: every direction and every color of the rainbow. And that's
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in an ordinary year, never mind twenty twenty six, which
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: is shaping up to be one of the rare super
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: bloom seasons, as they referred to. So today we want
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about why, well, what a
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: super bloom season is, and why it's happening now, and
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: then we want to really encourage you to consider an
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: experience that encompasses not just these spectacle of the flowers,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: but also the experience of the hospitality of the West
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Coast small towns and particularly the wonderful cuisine they offer.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to Carmen lerm who is the founder of
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: West Coast Way joining me. Carmen, It's lovely to have
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: you on the show again.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Welcome back, Thank you very much, Papos. It's a fantastic
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: time of the year to connect. It's very, very busy
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: already in the West Coast. Yes, I'm quite saddened to
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: here that you've never been on a flower too, and
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: I think we need to with immediate effect, repair that
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: that error, because you know, at the moment the flowers
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: already they are so beautiful. It's I don't I always
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: say to people it's we not. You can look at
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: as many television programs and wonderful tiktoks and instagrams, nothing
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: prepares you for the real experience when you're standing in
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: a field surrounded by slower.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Carmen, I'm not surprised to hear you
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: say that some of the flowers are already out. And
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: when I said, I haven't had the full experience. What
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: I did have the experience of was a couple of
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: years ago, heading up the West Coast for a surfing
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: weekend at Airline Spy over the Women's Day Long weekend
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: in August, and on the way up on the Friday
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: versus on the way back on the Monday evening, we
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: saw how much changed in just those three days. On
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: the way up there were certain, you know, patches of
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: flowers that were out, and there was splashes of white
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: hair and pink there and yellow there, and then on
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the way back completely different flowers showing their faces and
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: on different sides of the road. And it was extraordinary
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: to me how much changed in the course of just
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: a single long weekend. And just that little taster showed
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: me how spectacular it was going to get when they
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: all came into full bloom. Brenda has just sent me
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: photographs of you know, just this a forest of flowers
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: in every direction. They are magnificent. Well, when we talk
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: about this being a super bloom, yeah, does that just
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: mean they're more flowers than usual or is there more
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: going on than that? Tell us a little bit about
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: why twenty twenty six is a super bloom event.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: It's definitely all to do with the weather pattern, and
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: it is a certain set of may I say, happenings
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: in nature. We've had a lot of rain immediately followed
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: by a certain high temperature, and that created the perfect
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: environment for absolute thousands and thousands of seeds that have
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: been underground for years to germinate pop up bulbs. You know,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: you get your bulbs, then you've got your beautiful daisies
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: and your fame boss and all of that. In a
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: very short period of time. They think, well, you know,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: this is it. This is a perfect time for us
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: to shine, and they start and this will carry on
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: like this now for another make it two months. And
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: what's very interesting about the West Coast. The West Coast
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: is literally like one huge, big nature park. If you
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: go right to the top, safe instance, you drive up
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: the end seven and you go right to the top
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: direction and maybe a for instance, five hours away from
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: the city of Cape Town, You're going to see a
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: lot of flowers now because it's a lot more warmer there.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: And then as you move closer and closer to Cape Town,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: it becomes a bit cooler this time of the year,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: it's cooler stall then higher up, and so the flowers
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: is really now starting to bloom in the areas like
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Yakob Spines, Sintilina Bay. But it's been like this all
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: for at least a month. In Nivotable and you know
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Bido Valley, which is the Clan William area, Cedarburg. So
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: we've been very blessed. The West Coast has blessed us
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: with a wonderful opportunity to showcase everything that our small
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: towns offer, our people offer, the food, the amount of
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: talent that's in each of these communities, and how they
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: welcome people to come and explore.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Before we talk some more about your specific tour offering, Carmon,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: I just have to tell you that photograph that Brenda
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: sent me, which I had assumed was an historical photo
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: from a previous visit, she tells me, was taken just
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: ten days ago at Langabah near the park gate. So
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: that backs up what you've said that the flowers are
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: already out in their numbers and looking spectacular. Now you've
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: just mentioned a couple of things here, not just the
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: floral displays, but the hospitality, the wonderful food of the
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: people of the West Coast, the talent that can be
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: explored there. You have taken all of those aspects and
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: packaged them into something called a flower and Foody tour,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: which you're going to run in mid August and early September.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit more about what that tour
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: entails common.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Well, it's a five day tour starting from mouthbast Strand
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: and returning to mouthboll Strand. And on the first day
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: we depart and we go up to Claine William. We
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: explore that. You know, people say, no, what's unique about
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Claine William And I say, well, you know, if you
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: maybe Afrikaan, you'll know all about c Louis Lifeboord. Then
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: you'll know who doesn't know about Tolafana mav and that
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: is their home clown. So and as we all know,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: real Lifeboard was very well known for his recipe books
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: and how we used nature and for its healing properties.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: So when we go through that little town of Clayan
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: William and obviously we will stop at some farm stalls
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: and so on, and immediately you get all of the
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: local beautiful food. There. We go all the way to
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Bideo Valley and video value is a farm called Enyo
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: or Enya Farm, and they open their gates, they take
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: the cattle off the field and for literally two months
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: they are open day welcome people to come and explore
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: and look at the flowers. It is absolutely stunning. People
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: that have ever visited the area of Bupatal it's in
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: that direction. That's where you will find the Bideau Valley.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: On the second day we're going to going to go
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: explore from rainstorm and then we go all the way
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: up into the Northern Cape. So we go from the
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Marquela up into the Northern Cape and we go to
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Nivertville and on one day people will see the neverpoll waterfall,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: the most beautiful cover tree forest. We will visit two
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: heritage farms, a salt with flowers, you know, the fantastic
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: names like hill cutstat yellow caps tails, you know, the
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: names are so expressive. And again you know, we are
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: going to have on Mikey Swontaine, which is not the
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: town Mikey, Swantaine, but farm. We will have your typical
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: food that is prepared by the farmer and his team
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: or her team. So of course Louis the cook is
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: one of them. And then we go into the field
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: and it's so interesting how the farmers use their cattle
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: or the sheep to help distribute the seeds. Every year
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: of course comes in Moscow out Nosansa, and that is
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: how they keep on distributing the flowers. So going onto
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: someone's farm, it's a working farm and just that in
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: itself gives you so much insight into the people of
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: the West Coast, and of course there's so many interesting
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: stories that they can tell you. Anyways, on the last
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: day we travel with depart from from Rainstorp and then
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: we go all the way to bokom Land and there
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: we meet Now book Lane is a short road, but
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: it's an here origional heritage light and then Hat and
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Marchdell from Eck and J restaurant, they will greet us
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: and Hat will show us how to skill a Bookom.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Now a Boocom of course is a West Coast yes,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: and we will have lunch there on the jetty and
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: then from we will go into Prostspou, which is in
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: the West Coast National Park. And I'm very excited to
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: see prosper this year because in the past, you know,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: I would receive sefat from people and they would say, oh,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: you know, I was a bit maybe disappointed there weren't
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: so many flowers in Potsbourg. And the reason for that
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: is is usually even though Portsberk is only open in
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: the West Coast National Park August and September, yeah, the
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: rest of the year, the flowers are really as they
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: really become much more vibrant and plentiful as it eats up,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: which means in September. But this year spring is earlier.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: It's earlier, warmer, so there is a super bloom or
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: the or everything is perfect for an early bloom, and
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: therefore I believe that this year Prosperous is going to
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: be astounding. I always give people a tip. You know,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: you don't have to go on a guide a tour.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: If you want to go, try and go in the
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: week time when it's not so busy. As you're enter
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: the West Coast National Park. Goodness meet, but don't ask
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: me how much the fee is, but it's not a lot.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: The ranges they are extremely helpful. They will show you
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: which direction to go. Sometimes they've even got a fantastic
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: map that you would will want to keep with you
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: because it's it's done, the information on it. Anyway, Then
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: you go into firstly stop at pre Excel. It's a
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: great comfort stop. You could even have a bride there
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: this bride facility in that specific area. From there on
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: travel into Portsbourg. So I'm now totally referring to people
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: who decide, listen, I'm going to make a day of it. Yeah,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: it takes you about forty five minutes. It's from the
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: entrance of the West Coast National Park to get into Portsburgh.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: That's the distance. And and I'm saying this because people
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: don't really realize how massive the West Coast National Park is.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: It's it's it's beautiful, it's it's truly pristine. And of
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: course you see all kinds of animals there, especially in Potsbourgh.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: You know, you the mountains, zebra et cetera, bord the book,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: because the animals don't often see people, they're completely unstressed,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: and you know, and of course the bird life. It's
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: absolutely fascinating. What what what you see there? And as
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: we West Coast Way travel with a group, we only
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: do small group travel, we bring all of those things
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: on board as part of the food trip. That's pretty
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: part of our to it, like the riscus screens, cook
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: and all those little things that makes the riskers so
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: unique and uh and and that's you know, all I
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: can say is that most people that go on a
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: flower and fruity to it, they it's they think that
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: they're just going to see things and not come back
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: as a change person. But time and again when I
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: do it to Afterwards, when we talked to the guests,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: they'll say, you know, the most unexpected thing was that
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: I actually realized something new about myself, or you know,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I'm so relaxed. I'm a complete different person. So I
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: really I get a lot of satisfaction out of that fun.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, if I a I mean, so many
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: people just writing in to say how much they've loved
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: this kind of experience, Peter saying I'm blessed have been
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: to the West Coast National Park and have such wonderful
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: memories of it. Cheryl reminding us that if you have
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: a wild card, it gives you free entry to passburg Sherman.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: You've asked for suggestions for a day visit, well you've
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: certainly received those from Carmen. Several people asking how to
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: join your tour. And let's just close there. We've only
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: got a minute left, Carmen. The cost, I know is
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: just under sixteen thousand rand, which includes all five days
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: of accommodation and your meals and your t spots, the
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: petrol to get you there, the vehicle you move in,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: the entrance fees, everything is included. If somebody wants to
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: sign up, for the August tour which is the fourteenth
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: to the eighteenth of August, or for the September tour
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: the fourth to the eighth of September. How do they
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: do so well?
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: They need to book online on WWO dot West Coastway,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: dot co dot jday, or they can call us on
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: ZERA eight six one three two one seven seven seven,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: or they can email us on tours at West Coastway
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: dot zero ZDA or what'sapp on zero A two five
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: five seven one five, or go to our social media
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: which is West Coast Way SA or one word Instagram, Facebook,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: TikTok and have a look there are available dates and
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: what units are still left. We've even got spots here
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: for people a group of two to four so maybe
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: a small a family or a small groups of friends.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: And we also releasing our twenty twenty seven dates because
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: we've only got two spots left for this year. Wow
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: that yeah, now I can really really recommend. People that
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: have been to Prosper before might have felt, oh, you know,
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: I didn't see really what I saw on all the photos.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: This is the year that you need to go.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Good, Thank you so much, calm and learn. We have
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: to leave it there carm and speaking on behalf of
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: West Coast Way, So if you want to snag one
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: of those remaining spots, please do it in a hurry
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: on West Coastway dot co dot za, or go on
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: now and book your dates for twenty twenty seven