Alice Notten, Information Officer, Kirstenbosch Gardens, South Africa - 10 April 2024

“Kirstenbosch, the most beautiful garden in Africa: a look at South Africa’s most famous botanical garden” Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden was founded in 1913. It is situated on the eastern slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain. It features a 36-hectare informal garden set into an estate of 532 hectares of spectacular natural mountainside that forms part of the Table Mountain National Park. Kirstenbosch was the first botanical garden to devote itself exclusively to the indigenous flora of its own region and is home to many living collections, including bulbs, cycads, succulents, trees, proteas, ericas, restios, pelargoniums, clivias, welwitschia, etc., most of which can be seen growing in the garden or are on display in the Botanical Society Conservatory, a glasshouse that is open to the public. There are also several demonstration gardens such as the Water-wise Garden, Garden of Extinction and Useful Plants Garden which focus on a particular theme. To celebrate its centenary in 2013, the Tree Canopy Walkway was inaugurated which allows visitors closeup views through and over the trees of the Arboretum to the surrounding landscape. Alice shows us where the garden is located, talks about climate and seasons; rainfall and water; geology and soil; the garden’s history and founding ideas. Then she takes us on a virtual tour of the garden, showing the beauty of its landscape and the diversity of its plants and its wildlife.