South Africa is famous for its plants, so it is hardly surprising that it has some of the best botanical gardens in the world, of which Kirstenbosch, in Cape Town, is the most famous.
The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), with its head office at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, is an autonomous State-aided institute, which collects, displays and cultivates plants indigenous to South Africa; undertakes and promotes research into indigenous plants and related matters; studies and cultivates endangered plant species; promotes utilisation of the economic potential of indigenous plants; and runs environmental education programmes.
SANBI manages eight national botanical gardens in five of South Africa's nine provinces. The largest is Kirstenbosch, situated on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town. It houses 5 300 indigenous plant species, and was voted one of the top seven botanical gardens in the world at the World Botanical Gardens Congress in 2000.
Kirstenbosch receives more than 680 000 visitors annually. The Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden features the Centre for Home Gardening, which includes an indigenous retail nursery.
The other gardens in the national network are the Karoo Desert in Worcester, Harold Porter in Betty's Bay, Free State in Bloemfontein, Natal in Pietermaritzburg, Lowveld in Nelspruit, Walter Sisulu (formerly Witwatersrand) in Roodepoort, and the Pretoria National Botanical Garden.
The Pretoria National Botanical Garden houses the National Herbarium of South Africa, the largest in the southern hemisphere. Research is conducted on 800 991 specimens of southern African plants, 150 000 tropical African specimens, 50 000 others from around the world, and 25 000 cultivated specimens. There are also regional herbaria in Durban and at the Kirstenbosch Research Centre.
The Harold Porter Botanical Garden boasts disa uniflora in its national habitat (flowering from mid-December to the end of January), as well as South Africa's national flower, the king protea (Protea cynaroides).
Some municipalities have botanical gardens which are not controlled by SANBI. These include "The Wilds" and "Melville Koppies" in Johannesburg, the Johannesburg Botanic Garden, the Grahamstown Botanical Garden (now managed by Rhodes University) and the Municipal Durban Botanic Gardens.
Other botanical gardens in South Africa not controlled by SANBI include the Manie van der Schijff Botanical Garden (University of Pretoria), University of Stellenbosch Botanical Garden, North West University Botanical Garden (Potchefstroom Campus), University of KwaZulu-Natal Botanical Garden (Pietermaritzburg Campus), the Lost City Gardens (near Sun City, North West) and the Garden Route Botanical Garden.
The Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden owns one of the biggest collections of lithops in the world. These are found only in the southern regions of Africa.
It also accommodates more than 600 naturally occurring plant species, more than 230 bird species, as well as a number of reptiles and small mammals such as jackal and antelope, which occur in the natural areas of the Garden.
• Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town is world-renowned for the beauty and diversity of the flora it displays and for its magnificent setting against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. Founded in 1913, Kirstenbosch grows only indigenous South African plants. The estate covers 528 hectares and supports a diverse fynbos flora and natural forest. The cultivated garden (36 hectares) displays collections of South African plants, particularly those from the winter rainfall region of the country. There are also a number of theme gardens, including one focused on medicinal plants, a fragrance garden and a Protea garden (South Africa’s national flower, which occurs in dozens of variations) which is at its most magnificent in winter and spring.
• The Harold Porter National Botanical Garden, an hour from Cape Town, near the whale-watching town of Hermanus, is set between mountain and sea in the heart of the Cape fynbos region. It encompasses 10 hectares of cultivated fynbos garden and 190.5 hectares of pristine natural fynbos. The garden encompasses mountain slopes with wind-clipped heathlands, deep gorges with relict forests, flats and marshes with reeds, sedges and bulbs, as well as dunes adjacent to the beach with their specialised salt-adapted plants. The garden is renowned for its waterfalls and amber pools.
• The Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden, near the town of Worcester, 120 kilometres from Cape Town, is totally unique in that it is the only truly succulent garden in the southern hemisphere and on the African continent. One of the floral highlights of the year occurs in spring, when thousands of annuals and brightly coloured succulent plants called vygies (mesembryanthemaceae) come into brilliant flower. This colour spectacle lasts from mid-August to the end of September.
Falling within the succulent Karoo biome, which includes the Namaqualand flora so famous for its spring flowers, the Garden boasts some 400 naturally occurring species. The garden is also a haven for rare and endangered plants, with over 300 species being protected and propagated here.
Zoological Gardens
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