In Bloom — Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

For a pleas­ant day out in Cape Town, visit Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, wander through the gar­dens, toss a coin into Colonel Bird's bath while mak­ing a wish, and learn a bit more about the Cape floral king­dom, before retir­ing to one of the res­taur­ants to enjoy an excel­lent meal ...

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, loc­ated approx­im­ately 13kms from the centre of Cape Town’s CBD, is world renowned for its show­cas­ing of the nat­ural, indi­gen­ous beauty of the Cape floral king­dom. The garden is planted exclus­ively with indi­gen­ous plants, and cov­ers 528 hec­tares on the slopes of Table Mountain. 36 Hectares of this area forms the cul­tiv­ated garden, which boasts such fea­tures as Colonel Bird’s bath as well as an enorm­ous clock and sun­dial, just out­side the res­taur­ant complex.

While the garden itself was only estab­lished in the early 19^th Century, by Professor Pearson, who is bur­ied in the garden, with an epi­taph that reads “If ye seek his monu­ment, look around” the garden has a rich and var­ied his­tory that stretches fur­ther back. From stone imple­ments found on the site, it is clear that the area was in use by people from many thou­sands of years ago. In the 1600’s, Dutch set­tlers planted a hedge, still in exist­ence, of brambles and wild almond, that formed the bound­ary of the then Cape Colony.

Colonel Bird, who built the bath in the Dell area of the garden, acquired the land in 1811. His own­er­ship was short lived, and the land passed to the Cloete fam­ily in 1823, who estab­lished a farm. Probably the most fam­ous owner of the land was Cecil Rhodes, who acquired the prop­erty in 1895, and who bequeathed the land and the remainder of his Groote Schuur estate to the people on his death in 1902.

While the garden is undoubtedly steeped in fas­cin­at­ing his­tory, most vis­it­ors come to the garden to wander through the extens­ive land­scaped areas, pic­nic on the grass in sum­mer, take advant­age of one of the mag­ni­fi­cent walks or hikes up Table Mountain that begin in the garden, shop or visit one of the res­taur­ants. Newer attrac­tions include the Kirstenbosch Garden Centre, an indi­gen­ous nurs­ery, the curio shop and the Kirstenbosch Logo Store, which sells branded mer­chand­ise to com­mem­or­ate your visit.

Kirstenbosch gar­dens boast four res­taur­ants, for those not wish­ing to take advant­age of the pic­nic poten­tial, includ­ing the upper class Silvertree Restaurant, deli style Fynbos res­taur­ant and the Kirstenbosch Tea Room, built on the site of the ori­ginal tea room. In addi­tion to these year round attrac­tions, the gar­dens host an annual Garden Fair in March, and are the site of reg­u­lar music and theatre events.

Also on offer are guided tours, where exper­i­enced and trained guides lead you through the gar­dens attrac­tions, such as the Peninsula Garden, a show­case of approx­im­ately 2500 spe­cies of plants indi­gen­ous to the Cape Peninsula, as well as a medi­cinal, fra­grance and pro­tea garden, the Dell, and the fas­cin­at­ing and ancient Cycad forest.

Tours & Bookings:
Volunteer guides con­duct tours of the Garden on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 11h00. Group book­ings and spe­cial interest tours can be arranged with the Information Office (Telephone +27 (0)21 761‑4916). A club car also runs daily mini-tours on the hour from the Visitors' Centre. (please enquire about the costs). Pre-booking is advis­able, (Telephone +27 (0)21 762‑9120). A num­ber of trails lead through nat­ural forest and fyn­bos sur­round­ing the developed garden. A map is obtain­able from the Information Office for a nom­inal fee.

Opening Hours:
The Kirstenbosch Gardens are open 365 days a year.
Summer from 08h00 to 19h00 (September to March)
Winter from 08h00 to 18h00 (April to August).

Useful Links:
Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts
Cape Town Attractions
Cape Town Accommodation