Kirstenbosch, the most beautiful garden in Africa
janaline's world journey

Kirstenbosch, the most beautiful garden in Africa

If you love gardens then Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden should be top of your list of gardens to visit in Africa. It has a reputation as the most beautiful garden in Africa and one of the great botanic gardens of the world. But I imagine that few gardens can match the sheer grandeur of the setting of Kirstenbosch set against the eastern slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.

Two animal bronzes by Dylan Lewis can be found at the Centre for Home Gardening.
I took my mom and Brother for a visit.
It was the first botanic garden in the world to be devoted to a country’s indigenous flora.
Kirstenbosch is the largest of a country-wide network of nine National Botanical Gardens administered by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
Kirstenbosch displays a wide variety of the unique plant life of the Cape Flora, also known as fynbos
Kirstenbosch was established in 1913 to promote, conserve and display the extraordinarily rich and diverse flora of southern Africa,
Kirstenbosch lies in the heart of the Cape Floristic Region, also known as the Cape Floral Kingdom
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden lives up to its reputation as the most beautiful garden in Africa and one of the great botanic gardens of the world.
The Kirstenbosch Estate borders the Table Mountain National Park, and the Garden merges seamlessly with the natural fynbos and forest of the mountain.
Kirstenbosch, the most beautiful garden in Africa
Kirstenbosch, the most beautiful garden in Africa

I have visited this beautiful garden a couple of times now and each time I am amazed by the wide variety of the unique plant life of the Cape Flora, known as fynbos. Spring and summer is definitely my favourite time here as a lot of the fynbos is in bloom and the garden is filled with bright colours.

Kirstenbosch is adjacent to the Table Mountain National Park, and both form part of the Cape Floristic Region Protected Area that was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.
My brother in fromn of one of the bronze statues
Kirstenbosch, the most beautiful garden in Africa
That is my mom in the distance
Kirstenbosch, the most beautiful garden in Africa
Bronze by Dylan Lewis. He is among the most highly regarded figurative sculptors working with the animal form today.
There are two main vegetation types in the natural area of Kirstenbosch: fynbos and forest. The natural area can be explored via a number of walks and trails.
Table Mountain is home to a rich insect life and butterflies are plentiful during summer.
The Kirstenbosch estate covers 528 hectares, of which 36 ha is cultivated and the rest is a protected area supporting natural forest and fynbos, and a wide variety of indigenous birds, animals, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates.
Kirstenbosch, the most beautiful garden in Africa
Few gardens can match the sheer grandeur of the setting of Kirstenbosch, against the eastern slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.
More than just a garden, Kirstenbosch is part of a nature reserve.
The 36 hectare garden is part of a 528 hectare estate that contains protected mountainside supporting natural forest and fynbos along with a variety of animals and birds.

Which gardens do you love exploring?

22 comments

  6. One of the first places in Cape Town that I fell in love with (that and the Company’s Gardens in the city). Always visit on a trip to SA and last time we stayed only a few minutes walk away and every evening went for a stroll in the gardens. It is beautiful and has the added bonus of that spectacular mountain backdrop. Thanks for sharing your lovely photos.

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  11. Back in the 1960’s, my mom often used to take us there after to school and we used to play around the river of the top parking area which is all fenced off now. Also every term, when we were in junior school, there would be an outing to the classroom, where we would have a lesson and then a practical in the gardens. That old classroom is now used as an exhibition hall. My husband and I went there last month and I did a photo blog.

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