Kirstenbosch Garden

In December I had the chance to visit the famous Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town.

In future posts I’ll cover some of the great plants and flowers we saw, and their benefits and uses (such as preparing your garden to attract butterflies), but for now I just want to tell the story of the actual venue.

It was my first time visiting the renowned gardens and I was immensely impressed. Set in front of the picturesque Table Mountain the grounds are very clean and spacious, and the lawns are beautifully manicured.

This made for a very inviting atmosphere which welcomed picnics and family gatherings. In fact, while we were there we noticed such a range of visitors enjoying the embankments: there was a huge business crowd enjoying some team-building exercises, there were kids playing catching games, girls doing a modelling shoot, young adults playing card games, others working on laptops, and many just chilling and soaking up the sun.

And the best part was that the vast expanse of space meant that no group encroached on another’s privacy.

The flower and plant gardens are cleverly arranged into categorised sections so, as you walk though the walkways and boardwalks, you learn about a specific subject at a time. For example there are sections of flowers which are all conducive to attracting butterflies to your garden, or plants with certain health benefits or medicinal cures.

The signage at every section of the Garden is excellent; giving you detailed information about the plants, the benefits, the cultural beliefs attached to it and any interesting titbits about its history.

The venue as a whole is very visitor-friendly with loads of benches placed throughout the park along the paths for rest stops and view points. It was easy to see that everything is pedantically maintained as no area was unkempt. This also meant it was safe for elderly visitors as there were no broken pathways or potential ‘tripping spots’.

There is a very lively bird life there, and while we were picnicking (after our exploring), we were visited by some very tame, and inquisitive, Guinea Fowl and Egyptian Geese.

As far as the facilities go, there are many toilets situated throughout the site, and all are clean and well maintained. There are also quite a few restaurants to visit and an art gallery with the work of some of the country’s brightest artists being displayed.

The whole venue has a calming atmosphere which seems to lend itself to reading or being creative and productive. If I lived closer I would gladly go there more often, and take a laptop and work there for the day.

I thoroughly enjoyed our time there and will definitely visit again.