Kirstenbosch
In the morning the newlyweds had some errands to attend to in the central business district (CBD). We would our way through some traffic, the majestic escarpment of Table Mountain looming over us with a band of clouds obscuring the top. The area near Stonehurst could have been in the ritzy parts of LA or north Jersey. BMW’s, Mercedes Benz’s, Porsche’s, and Ferrari’s were the vehicle of choice. The downtown was about the cleanest of any major city I’ve seen. Skyscrapers clustered together over freshly paved streets. We parked and walked a block to the Seattle Coffee Co. for breakfast, across the street from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, more of our American exports.
Our goal for the morning was to take the cable cars to the top of Table Mountain to poke around a bit but they were closed for repairs, more items on a growing list of reasons to return. As a backup, we headed to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens at the foothills of Table Mountain. Although we were a tad disappointed to miss the views from the top, we were grateful to have something to do. As it turns out, I think the gardens were a superior choice as we were provided incredible views of the city and the mountain
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is one of the magnificent seven botanical gardens of the world. The list includes the NYC Botanical Gardens, Kew Gardens, Edinburgh, and oddly the Missouri Botanical gardens. The estate changed hands a number of times from 1660 to 1895 when Cecil Rhodes of De Beers fame purchased it. He planted camphor trees along the avenue before he died in 1902. Kirstenbosch became a botanical garden in 1913 dedicated to the cultivation and study of the indigenous plants of South Africa. The park covers 1,300 acres of the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. Growing in the park are displays of fynbos, protea, restio, cycads, and many other native South African species.
The park was busy for a Tuesday and groups of schoolchildren diligently took notes in the Garden of Extinction, where plants that are endangered or extinct in the wild grow here. The sun was high, but the fog at the top of Table Mountain was persistent, flowing down the steep canyons like an ethereal waterfall. I’ve spent my fair share of time with amazing mountains in the North American west, but this massif takes the top spot for sheer moodiness. The contrast between the soft touch of wispy clouds played against the rugged crags of the ancient rocks. Trees clung to the sides, professional rock climbers in their own right.
We wandered through garden after garden of gorgeous flowers and plants, many of them new to us. Bees worked busily on agathosma and little sunbirds flitted about. I was particularly interested in capturing the latter. The pictures I had shot in Simon’s Town were good, but more pictures is better and their iridescent feathers would make for a good calendar picture. On the ground we saw spurfowl (also known as francolin), Helmeted guineafowl, and Egyptian geese.
The clear day provided great views of the city from the Boom Slang. In Afrikaans, Boom Slang means “tree snake”. No, we did not ride a large reptile. The park has an elevated pathway through the trees like an ewok villiage. As we were preparing to leave, I watched a sunbird land on some candelabra aloe, drinking nectar from the long red petals. I tracked it as it flew across the path and landed on a pine. Usually, I would shoot with a tripod, so shooting manually with the long lens and a small target is challenging. Even more so when that target is moving on a branch that is moving.
Our time was nearly up. Our flight departed in the early evening and we still had some preparations to make. Our Uber took us to the airport by a different route through some of the townships of tin-roofed shanties near Witsand. It was a stark dichotomy from the glamour of the downtown and upper class suburbs. Our flights home were smooth, but we still find issue with the lack of beer at Heathrow. Might have to make a special trip just for that.
Stay tuned for recommendations and reflections on this trip.
