Saturday Spot: Kirstenbosch for Kids…

Kirstenbosch is one of our best spots to visit in Cape Town, it is the National Botanical Gardens of Cape town and splendid!!! We only go there once or twice a year – it isn’t covered by our Wild Card, and we don’t go often enough to make the annual fee worth our while. But that being said children under six are free so I only have to pay for three kids and it really is a reasonable outing!!!

It is a fabulous spot for picnics There are tea rooms, and a huge shop full of wide selection of local books and products – great if you are a tourist and a little less great if you are local – definitely Dollar and Pound prices. And like most tourist spots in the world you can most likely do better elsewhere.:

And most folk head straight for the river running through for hours of paddling and playing and fun…

But there is far more to Kirstenbosch than a river running through it…

There are so many places to look about and explore that you can visit a completely different corner every time you go there…

There are wide open lawns:

There are birds galore:

There are glorious places to paddle:

And look at that waterfall:

There are places to run and hide:

And I mean hide:

And historical spots to learn about:

There are the most amazing indigenous plants, we love the useful plant section and their is a scent garden that’s just brilliant and a braille trail that’s great fun to walk… And heaps of little animals and birds enjoying the gardens too:

There are maps and pamphlets galore – and they are great for plotting routes and planning outings:

But our favorite spot is the Conservatory: We always stop in here rain or shine and then linger for at least an hour!!! It is a huge glasshouse where you can visit various plant regions of Southern Africa. You can see all the weird and wonderful plants of Africa under one roof…

Succulents and stone plants, cacti and Boababs…

And don’t for a moment think glass house means pokey and claustrophibic – it is huge and airy with full grown trees. It is not steamy and enclosed either their is cool fresh air running through it. It does have enclosed rooms with carefully balanced environments so that you can see plants that you would never normally see, like mountain top plants from the highest peaks.

And everyone always wants to touch the huge Boabab in the middle:

Just make sure your beginner reader collects their pamphlet in their own languages because the pamphlets are in a myriad of different languages…

So The Conservatory is great, don’t miss it, as you go in and out, because you will be missing a rare treasure. Even if you visit Kirstenbosch on a typical Cape of Storms day the Conservatory is always an option for a walk and a whole lot of discovering…

That’s it… Have a Great Week!!!