Taylored Trips – Interesting places – Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

It is hard to believe that we have never been to our main national botanical gardens before. I have visited three of our eleven national botanical gardens and we thought it was about time that we popped into the main one.

Getting there is a breeze and there are signboards from as far back as the N2. Verine managed to get a great photo of Mostert’s Mill as we joined the M3.

Good signage Mostert’s Mill

Kirstenbosch schematic

When you get to the main entrance at Gate 1 and you’re a bit disorientated and not quite sure which way to go, choose the Conservatory. It’s right at the entrance and it makes perfect sense to start there. It is under cover and features plants from nine biomes of southern Africa including the rocks and soil found in that region.

Conservatory

Nine different Southern African biomes under one roof

With interest on full alert after being mesmerised over Richtersveld kokerbome and Botswana baobabs, to name but a few, we entered the outdoor gardens for the first time. We strolled up Camphor Ave which formed part of the road from Cape Town to Hout Bay. Apparently Cecil John Rhodes had the Camphor trees planted. We gazed over the lawns to the Concert Stage where they have live music in the summer months, depending on which level of COVID-19 lockdown we’re on.

Camphor Ave Sunday Summer Concerts

Then there’s a hedge which Jan van Riebeek planted in 1660 as a barrier/border between the newly established settlement at the Cape and the local Khoi of the Cape. Just up the road is the legendary “Boomslang”. A tree canopy walkway which slithers its way through the trees like a serpentine, high above the ground, providing spectacular views alternating between the distant cape flats on one side, the majestic mountains on the other side and the beautiful flora below you as you walk.

The "Boomslang"

For lunch, we headed over to the Tea Room which is near Gate 2. The walk there from the Boomslang takes you past the Otter Pond, a sundial, some plants that could be useful, the Fragrance Garden and the Garden of Extinction. Lots of interesting fragrances wafting past your nose brings back everyone’s own unique personal memory of the various smells in the fragrance garden. There are some striking sculptures as you approach the Tea Room.

A Cheetah And a Springbok which is about to be devoured by a lioness. That’s the ever-present Castle Rock in the background

The Tea Room is nice with a good menu and good service.

Tea Room

Luckily there’s some respite for us old-timers all along the way where one can sit and relax now and again to enjoy the view or to rest the weary legs.

Heaven Ahhhh!

After lunch we ambled higher to the upper echelon of the gardens. Up in the cycad garden there are all sorts of interesting things like the Colonel Bird’s bath and some lovely walkways. I didn’t read properly initially and thought it was a colonel’s bird bath but later realised it was a bird bath built by a Colonel Bird. It is even in the shape of a bird and it is lined with tiles from Batavia which were used as ballast in a ship’s hull.

Cycad gardens

Colonel Bird’s BathInteresting walkways and paths

Back down near Gate 1 is Moyo Restaurant if you really want to splash out and treat yourself to a well-deserved meal.

Moyo Restaurant

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. Be sure to visit it soon, especially on a Tuesday if you are a well matured South African. It’s free if you’re over sixty.

Until next time, “Keep on Tripping!”