Pictures from South Africa - Part 2 Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is world-renowned for the beauty and diversity of the Cape flora it displays and for the magnificence of its setting against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain.

Kirstenbosch grows only indigenous South African plants. The estate covers 528 hectares and supports a diverse fynbos flora and natural forest. The cultivated garden (36 hectares) displays collections of South African plants, particularly those from the winter rainfall region of the country. It was founded in 1913.


Proteas are the National Flower.



The oldest section of the Garden is Colonel Bird's Bath. Built in approximately 1811 by Colonel Christopher Bird, Deputy Colonial Secretary, it is bird shaped (a play on his name) and made of Batavian type bricks. It is fed by four crystal-clear, ice-cold springs. The paths and bath surroundings have been paved and cobbled in local stone by Kirstenbosch stone masons.

Above the Bath is the impressive collection of cycads, Encephalartos species. They are Palm-like and are often called "living fossils".  This is  not because they grow so slow , but because fossils show us that they have changed remarkably little since prehistoric times. The Cycad Living Collection was the first collection of plants to be established at Kirstenbosch.

Cycads are mostly rare and endangered in their natural habitats and are constantly under threat from collectors.



The sculptures in Kirstenbosch are created by the Shona tribe of Zimbabwe. The only sub sahara tribe who carves stone sculptures.