Kirstenbosch Gardens

Today we had a really interesting visit to Cape Town's Kirstenbosch Gardens, accompanied by a botanist who was very interesting to listen to.

The weather was perfect, with gorgeous blue skies and plenty of sunshine, and we learned a great deal about the many different kinds of protea (South Africa's national flower), as well as lots of other native plants.  We also were very careful to avoid snakes (boomslangs, puff adders, and cape cobras in particular), enormous spider webs with lots of huge orb weaver spiders lurking in their midst, and some type of indigenous wasp that was supposed to deliver a mighty sting!

Here's a collage of some of the beautiful flowers we saw, as well as one of the huge spider webs, a Cape White Eye bird, a gorgeous Sunbird *, and a bust of the great Nelson Mandela.

*  I cannot take credit for the photo of the Sunbird!  They move as swiftly as hummingbirds, and although we did see a few, I was nowhere near quick enough to capture them on film.  Instead, I snapped a picture of a poster of one in the gift shop!