Cape Town Botanical Gardens

Specially engineered birds of paradise for Nelson Mandela called Mandela's Gold

Cape Town's Botanical gardens are heavily touted as an "absolute must do. That said, I really didn't want to go (maybe because I was expecting something similar to the HK Botanical Gardens which while a nice reprieve from the concrete jungle and free, aren't much), but as it was part of our Cape Peninsula tour, we really didn't have a choice.

However, I was really surprised about the diversity of flowers that were brought here by the Dutch and the English.  It was explained that the flora found in the Cape is over 3 times larger than what is found in the UK at a fraction of the landmass.  What added to the beauty of the gardens was the towering Table Mountain surrounding us.

Throw a coin and make a wish

Strange looking flowers were everywhere

The resident owl sleeps with one eye open

Guinea Fowl, also residents of the Botanical Gardens