An afternoon at Kirstenbosch — Photographs

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens is known the world over for its beauty and diversity. Only indi­gen­ous plants are grown in the gar­dens and the 528 hec­tares sup­port a diverse area of fyn­bos and flora. The gar­dens boast col­lec­tions of South African plants; many of which are from the winter rain­fall of the coun­try which would suit the rain­fall pat­tern of the Western Cape. Guided tours of the Gardens are con­duc­ted at 11h00 on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  There are a num­ber of trails through the nat­ural forest and Fynbos of the garden so one can take one­self on a tour!

It’s a mag­ni­fi­cent place to visit; whether it be for a lazy after­noon, a sum­mer sun­set con­cert, Carols by Candlelight in December, or for a meal at the res­taur­ant. Continued

Summer Sunset Concerts at Kirstenbosch starting soon ...

TKZee

Only four more Sundays to go until sum­mer offi­cially starts!  We all know what sig­ni­fies the start of sum­mer (well, in my mind any­way) — it’s the first Old Mutual Summer Sunset Concerts at Kirstenbosch!

The con­certs are the per­fect way to spend a lazy Sunday after­noon – take a blanket and pic­nic and spend a few hours in the garden before head­ing over to the con­cert area or just arrive as the gates open and find a sunny spot (or a shady spot) and relax until the show begins.  The venue opens at 4pm with most of the con­certs start­ing at 5.30pm and the venue closes at 8pm. Continued

Untamed now on at Kirstenbosch

Untamed at Kirstenbosch

Go and see this exhib­i­tion if you can. Actually, you can't miss it if you visit Kirstenbosch in the next year — or just under a year as it's mov­ing on, they think, to Johannesburg come June 2011 — as the organic struc­ture takes up most of a space you're used to view­ing simply as 'lawn', which alone I find inspiring.

Untamed lies on the lower region of grass just as you enter the gar­dens from Gate 1. It is really close to the part of the garden my fam­ily and I call the duck pond (for obvi­ous reas­ons) and the 'climb­ing tree' – the sprawl­ing wild almond tree hid­den in amongst the plant beds on the river bank, and the only tree I will allow my young son to climb in the gar­dens ... Continued

Johnny Clegg at Kirstenbosch

Johnny Clegg

The 2009 / 2010 Kirstenbosch Summer series of con­certs kicked off on Sunday even­ing with a superb per­form­ance from South African music legend Johnny Clegg.

The venue star­ted to fill up from 3.30pm when the gates opened and by 5.30pm was packed to capa­city with fans of all ages.  The Kirstenbosch con­certs def­in­itely get sum­mer off to a good start with crowds of people arriv­ing armed with pic­nics, cooler boxes and blankets.  The views from the con­cert venue of the gar­dens are spec­tac­u­lar and the atmo­sphere is always relaxed – what a great way to spend a Sunday after­noon and draw the week­end to a close ... Continued

Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts

It is that time again Cape Town — The Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts are right on our door­step so it is time to phone your friends, dust off that pic­nic blanket and take the bas­ket off the top shelf and make sure you have tick­ets for the Sunday concerts ...

The Old Mutual Summer Sunset Concerts have been tak­ing place for as long as I can remem­ber, they are such a high­light on the Cape Town cal­en­dar and it is a fant­astic oppor­tun­ity to wind down the week­end, sit­ting on the beau­ti­ful grassy banks in front of the stage at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, while listen­ing to some of the best South African musi­cians and bands we have to offer. Continued

History or horticulture? How about a whole lot of both at Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden?

The Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden is one of the Cape’s most well-known tour­ism draw cards, as well as being a favour­ite with loc­als as a pic­nic spot. Any Cape Town guide book worth its salt will tell you about the Garden’s 528 hec­tares of indi­gen­ous flora and nat­ural forest (36 of which are cul­tiv­ated), its res­taur­ants, its hik­ing trails and its line-up of sum­mer con­certs. What they might not tell you about is Kirstenbosch’s very long and inter­est­ing his­tory ... Continued

Spring Photos of the Kirstenbosch Gardens

Spring has sprung in Cape Town's favour­ite garden — 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 ... Continued