Cape Town, South Africa
We started out early this morning with a trip to the Kristenbosch Botanical Gardens – or as Josh called it, a plant safari. Neither of us are really into botany or gardening, but this botanical garden is rated 7th best in the world, so we felt like it was worth giving it a shot.
I’m so glad we did, because we actually ended up having a great time.
More plants are found only around Cape Town than anywhere else in the world. Of the more than 9000 plant species in Cape Town, over sixty-nine percent are not found anywhere else in the entire world. That makes this area more diverse than the rain forrest.
The flower to see here (and the national flower of South Africa) is the King Protea (Pro-T-Ah). While still in bloom this time of year, we unfortunately missed the flowers displaying their prime colors of bright reds and pinks a couple weeks ago.
We were lucky enough to wander upon the beginning of a free walking tour of the gardens led by a retired teacher named Arde who was a member of the South African Botanical Society and a volunteer tour guide. The tour was supposed to last 50 minutes, but Arde was so into it, the tour actually went on 2.5 hours and Josh and I weren’t even mad about it. She was extremely knowledgable about the plaints and wildlife in the garden, as well as, the historical context that very surprisingly paralleled the importance of the flora. Who knew we’d learn so much South African and world history while exploring a botanical garden.
By far the coolest exhibition at the gardens was the boomslang canopy walk. Named after the venomous boomslang snake and built to take on the appearance of snake winding through the trees. The walk sits above the canopy of the trees and it is built to sway like a swinging bridge as people meander around it. The second coolest thing was the Extinction Garden which featured plants that are extinct in the wild.
After our long, but informative tour, we had lunch at Tea Room located inside the Gardens and highly recommended by tour guide, Arde. She didn’t let us down, either! I ordered a traditional South African Cape Malay dish called Bobotie (Bah-bo-T).
Everyone we’ve talked to about what to eat kept saying we must have it. However, the description of the food is less than appetizing (ground meat mixed with spices and dried fruit topped with egg). Trust me, I was skeptical, but the first bite had me convinced. Definitely, worth trying and I may try to eat it again before we leave.
After the botanical gardens we went to Hout Bay and spent a little time at the beach. The water from the Atlantic ocean is extremely cold, so we just visited some of the shops near by and walked in the sand a little.
This evening we shopped for souvenirs,
Yes I purchased an oversized wooden hippo. No, I have no idea where I am going to keep it.
We were supposed to go for a sunset drive at and picnic at Signal Hill this afternoon, but we couldn’t make it to the bus stop in time due to traffic and us going to the wrong place first. Instead, we unpacked our picnic supplies back at the hotel and had our own sunset watch party out of the bathroom window (which has a surprisingly great view of Lions Head next to Table Mountain).
Tomorrow, well be renting a car to drive to the cape of good hope – which I am really looking forward to, as we plan to stop at Boulder Beach on the way (also known as Penguin Beach).
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