Botanical garden

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22nd March - Kirstenbosch Cape Town National Botanical Garden #heygo http://www.heygo.com



Regarded as one of the great botanic gardens of the world, Kirstenbosch—or rather, the land on which it sits—was bequeathed to the government by Cecil John Rhodes. At the time, it was nothing more than ramshackle farmland overrun with pigs. In 1913 a botanist called Harold Pearson set about transforming the land into a botanic garden devoted to the country’s indigenous flora. It now contains over 7000 species of plants from southern Africa.



The origin of the name Kirstenbosch is uncertain, a number of families with the name Kirsten lived in the vicinity and some how the area became known as Kirstenbosch (Kirsten's Forest).



We saw life-size sculptures of prehistoric creatures.

Through the exhibition of anatomically accurate dinosaur sculptures hoping to help the plight of South Africa’s cycad population, which is on the brink of extinction. Six tin dinosaur sculptures have been placed among the endangered species in the Garden’s Cycad Amphitheatre.



The Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway is a new curved steel and timber bridge that winds and dips its way through and over the trees of the Arboretum. Inspired by a snake skeleton, and informally called ‘The Boomslang’ (meaning tree snake), it is a low-maintenance, low-impact sculptural raised walkway.



With the Magnificat Table Mountain as a backdrop it was wonderful to see so many beautiful flora. Protea, March Lily, (Amaryllis Belladonna) Erica, Aloes, Agapanthus, Leucadendron to name just a few.

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