Sandhof Lilies Bloom For The First Time In Three Years In Namibia

Good rains brought life to some parts of the Namib Desert in the southern part of the country and gave new life to desert lilies, better known as the Sandhof lilies for the first time in three years. It is reported that Sandhof lilies grow in a clay pan on the farm Sandhoff situated about 40km outside Maltahöhe. These flowers only bloom for a short period of time, so the sighting is said to be very rare and special.

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The funnel-shaped flowers (Crinum Paludosum) commonly known as bushveld vlei lilies bloom in marshy areas and only last for six or seven days before they change colour from pink to white, and then wither. These flowers belong to the Amaryllis plant species can be found in Namibia although they do appear in Botswana on rare occasions.

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As of recently, visitors took to social media to share pictures of the flowers in bloom after the good rains. It is reported that the flowers started to bloom in the clay pan on Sandhof farm a few weeks ago drawing about 2 000 visitors, according to Mark Morgan, the owner of the farm. This is supposedly the first time since the drought that they have flowered. The bulbs only bloom after there has been enough rain, about 30cm of water on the clay pan.

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"Because of the drought, the field was clear and there were no shrubs. Thus the flowers bloomed to their full glory," Morgan later told publications. "We received visitors from Germany, South Africa, Belgium and the United Kingdom. We opened for the whole week from sunrise to sunset. About two-thirds of the visitors were tourists while the remaining third were locals."