Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

This Sunday a group of interns and I went to have a picnic and wander around Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. We had never been there, and most of us had gotten in the taxi without really knowing what to expect or what activities we would be doing at this garden. Luckily Kirstenbosch prints guidelines right on our tickets to lead us through the Garden. It reads as follows:

Enjoy your visit and abide by the following:

DO NOT

• Disturb plants or animals
• Balls, bikes, skateboards
• Dogs, pets
• Garden furniture 
• Radios, noise, games
• Climb trees, swim
• Enter the flower beds
• Litter, fires, braais

DO

• Discover plants & animals
• Walk, hike, explore
• Bird watch
• Picnic on the lawns
• Relax at concerts
• Enjoy sculptures & art
• Take photographs
• Take litter home

We figured we had better follow the rules so we started off on the right foot by taking some photos...

I'm not sure what these flowers are called, but they were neat.

We definitely enjoyed the sculptures and art.

There were some really cool sculptures.

And some scary ones!

In 1811, Colonel Christopher Bird built this bird shaped pool (a play on his name) to collect spring water. It looked like a nice bath to me, but the rules said not to swim so I resisted.

Lady Anne Barnard's Bath

We found an aromatic garden, where all the plants were smelly. So, we decided to discover some plants.

I had to smell them all!

We also found an edible section of the garden and while I was chomping on some very tasty leaves I found this sign.. uh oh.

I survived.

Next we followed signs leading us to King Protea. We had to meet this King! King Protea turned out to be  South Africa's national flower.

King Protea, decribed by botanists in the 1700's as Table Mountain Tree-Artichoke. 

In following the rules we had to discover animals and bird watch. Check and check!

I liked this bird. He was busy going after some worms.

We found owls! There was a baby right next to the path snacking on something that looked like dryer lint. Unfortunately I broke the rule about not disturbing animals. He gave me a very dirty look for interrupting his lunch with some pictures.

That close!

He was not amused.

More cool animals!

More disturbing animals!

Finally we decided to do some more walking, hiking, and exploring. A few of us thought that it would be a great idea to follow the sign to Skeleton Gorge. What could go wrong?

Stairs... stairs... stairs... stairsssssss....

After a few hundred stairs we realized that we were not dressed or prepared in the least for a hike. After meeting a couple on the way down who told us that we were "really close.. only another hour or so!" We decided we should come back another day with hiking shoes and backpacks.

Deciding to be quitters.

After we quitting, we figured that it would be a good idea and break one more rule and found the nearest tree to climb.

The Kirstenbosch Gardens have free summer concerts over the next few months. Hopefully we will be back to enjoy the plants and animals again, and perhaps another attempt at Skeleton Gorge.