Title	Finding Pofadder Finding Pofadder, the West Coast, Namaqualand & Northern Cape
Author	Ursula Stevens
EAN	978 0958 495 134 Non-fiction
Publisher	Wanderlust
First Published	2008
Size of book	210mm x 150 mm
Cover	Soft Cover in full colour, gloss-varnished
Text	160pp
Retail Price	South African Rand R109.95 ( €10 / £9/ $15 )

The book discovers the floral wonders, diamonds, copper, the development of towns, villages and the impact of the Anglo-Boer war. It offers invaluable information about this vast area with route descriptions and maps. The book covers the west coast from Cape Town to the borders of Namibia and Botswana in the north, and Kimberley in the east.

Heading north from Cape Town along the national highway to find Pofadder whose name elicits smiles when mentioned, appears to be a straight-forward journey. But prepare yourself for a drive full of twists and turns, a drive that follows the footprints of explorers, adventurers, fortune seekers, soldiers, law-abiding settlers and lawbreakers alike.

From the coast washed by the cold Benguela Current to the mountainous inland, from south to north and west to east, the book reveals a region of hidden treasures.

For thousands of years diamonds lay hidden beneath the sand or were washed by the mighty Orange River towards the sea; rocks concealed the copper and other minerals that became the catalyst for exploration and settlement; for most of the year the luxuriant flora hides beneath the arid soil, patiently waiting for the winter rains to cease before popping up their colourful heads in most beguiling forms; for centuries hunter-gatherers, herders and farmers lived an isolated life, mostly of hardship under the scorching sun - their story too is one of twists and turns deeply burnt into the arid land; for millennia the land lay undisturbed until its mineral wealth brought settlement, and with it religion, quarrel and war.

Finding Pofadder tells in vivid colour the numerous twists, turns and detours from Cape Town to the north that await the reader and traveller. an average of one new edition per year.

Reviews

Veld & Flora, December 2008 issue
"If you are travelling up the West Coast or in Namaqualand in the Northern Cape, then take this book along. It provides route suggestions, (almost too many to chose from), and a treasure trove of facts-snippets of historical and contemporary information, the local flora and fauna, maps contact numbers and just about every sight that can be seen!"