I invite you to take a quick virtual vacation via this gorgeous posting by an intrepid blogger reporting from South Africa. Beautiful photos and an interesting take on plants we often see at home in North America.
Climbing the iconic Table Mountain is not for the faint-hearted. More people die on Table Mountain than Mount Everest. Rocky cliffs, steep drops, puff adders, searing heat when the sun rises, yet there are many experienced guides to lead you safely up its 1088 metres. Formed over hundreds of millions of years, the Table Mountain National Park is the richest single floristic area on the planet.
On the northern slopes of Table Mountain
1500 plant species are found on the mountain itself, including fynbos (Afrikaans meaning “fine bush”), scrubby vegetation consisting of proteas, restios, ericas and geophytes. South African flora features in so many of our gardens, perhaps unknowingly; geraniums and freesias, for instance, have their origins in fynbos.
Looking down at Cape Town from Table Mountain
On the eastern slopes of the Mountain lies one of Africa’s loveliest gardens, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, and from here one can reach…
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