Shoebury Heights

After a couple of days in the hotel writing (I published my first blog post in over two years – where did that time go??), doing laundry, sorting out our bags ready for moving on, and a whole load of other stuff, today promised to be a glorious day, so we went off on the first of our second two-day City Sightseeing adventure. We were organised early and were at the waterfront ready to catch the first blue bus of the day which was leaving at 9am.

We stayed on the bus until we reached Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden, which is recognised as one of the great gardens of the world. Set against the eastern slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain, few gardens can match the sheer grandeur of its backdrop. Kirstenbosch places a strong emphasis on the cultivation of indigenous plants. When the garden was founded in 1913 to preserve the flora native to South Africa’s territory, it was the first botanical garden in the world with this ethos, at a time when invasive species were not considered an ecological and environmental problem. Today, there are non-native trees and shrubs in the garden which were introduced before Kirstenbosch was established, but, as these die off naturally, they will not be replaced. Staff estimate that by 2040, the gardens will be stocked with almost 100% indigenous plants.

We arrived at the gardens just in time for the 10am guided walk. Our guide was Pam, originally from Plymouth, Devon, who has been resident in South Africa for most of her life, and who has been visiting Kirstenbosch since her children were babies over 50 years ago. She has been leading walks on Thursdays for more than 20 years, and regularly hikes in the 1300 acres that make up the gardens purely for her own pleasure. Her passion for Kirstenbosch was immediately apparent. Her enthusiasm for the history, geology, and botany of the place was infectious. The scheduled 90-minute walk became two hours without any of us realising, and only ended then because she had another tour starting at 12!! We all learned so much from Pam as she pointed out her favourite plants, birds, and places to sit at different times of the day. I wish everyone could spend a few hours with her!

The gardens are absolutely stunning! Despite being there in winter, there was still plenty of colour to be seen, not least in the early blooming of King Proteas, the national flower of South Africa. On such a sunny day, the gardens were also full of birds, including plenty of sunbirds. The emerald-green Malachite Sunbirds were particularly striking, although very difficult to photograph as they move so quickly! The views from the higher slopes of the garden were amazing. A highlight of our visit was to walk across the tree canopy bridge which was opened in 2013 to commemorate the centenary of Kirstenbosch gardens.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the gardens. We would have loved to stay longer, but some wine-tasting was waiting for us!Read more