Flowers of the Kruger
The Kruger National Park is very famous for being the home of the Big 5. There is an abundance of fauna, flora and birdlife found in the Kruger and while you are there you can see and experience a lot of these wonderful species. While you travel in the Kruger National Park, keep an eye out for these beautiful and fantastic flowers.
Summer Impala Lily
This beautiful and resilient plant can survive in some of the worst droughts that the Kruger Park has to offer. It has a thick and spiny base that helps the plant retain water during the droughts and survive where others don’t. This plant blooms from January to April and has beautiful bright pink flowers. The Summer Impala Lily is critically endangered and is on the Red List of South African plants
Leopard Orchid
The Leopard Orchid is South Africa’s largest Orchid Species. This plant grows and blooms in clumps during the dry winter months. The flower gets its name from the brown spots that are dotted all over the plant’s petals, which are sometimes yellow-green in colour as well as blue green. These plants are also somewhat resilient as they can survive longer than most plants during dryer seasons.
Wild Dagga
These wild looking and strange flowers are quite common in the Kruger National Park. These fast-growing shrubs are what Sunbirds feast on and can grow up to 3m tall. This plant grows strangely, as a bulbous formation (covered in tube like protrusions) forms at the stem’s end wherefrom another stem grows and repeats the cycle. The flowers that bloom from the Wild Dagga range from deep red to bright orange and the flower shapes are long and conical.
Black Stick Lily
The Black Stick Lily is a very resilient plant that is able to go long periods of time without water. These plants are very drought friendly and are also, according to krugerpark.co.za, able to survive bush fires and low temperatures. The Lily gets its name from the colour the stem turns when it gets charred by fires. The actual flower of the Black Stick Lily is a beautiful light purple, sometimes pink, flower that is very fragrant and can be used for a variety of medicinal purposes.
Sickle Bush
The Sickle Bush is a n iconic piece of flora that is well know in the Kruger. It closely resembles an Acacia tree but is not part of the family. The main difference between an Acacia and Sickle Bush is: The Acacia has adapted leaves that turn into spines while the Sickle Bush’s spines are adapted stems making the much harder. The flower that blooms from this tree is the real show stopper. It is a small flower that grows on the tips of the tree’s branches, the flower looks like a fat finger, with the first 1/3 of the flower being lilac in colour and the rest a bright yellow.
