We have hit holiday mode… which means I am nowhere near my computer and blogging is taking a back seat to the fun things we are doing right now… and that includes a whole lot of getting outdoors and taking every opportunity to enjoy the Winter Wonders Programme and Free Entrance to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for kids.
Every Saturday during the holidays, they have a fantastic guided tour of the gardens under the guise of “Family Treasure Hunts…” Think following clues and exploring your way through the gardens and the treasure is ultimately a heap of knowledge. The volunteer guides are fantastic and spend about two hours answering bazillions of questions, from everybody there… short and tall… about plants and birds and rocks and trees… with enormous patience and enthusiasm. They obviously are passionate about their task and they do it well.
You can choose from four themes, and that is the problem… they are that good, and we have only managed two of them. I really hope they offer these family friendly tours to families again and again because we are loving them. You can pick your treasure hunt from flowers to trees and rivers to the conservatory… whatever the weather there is some good exploring to do.
And could you drink this water or not… hmmm a lot of reeds are filtering the water… it is moving… lots to think about.
And this… is a banana seed. Have you ever. You learn new things every day.
There is a spring in that pool, created by the different lanes of rock… the Table Mountain Sandstone is porous, and the Cape Granite is not. So the water is forced out and creates this beautiful stream that is always 18 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, the guides had a collection of magnifying glasses at hand for taking a closer look.
You can download the full Winter Wonderland programme here.