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| Bridge near the entrance of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. |
Sculptures in Kirstenbosch. |
One of many beautiful open areas. |
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| Continuing down the path... |
Heading to find the Cycads. I was on a mission.... |
One of the 22,000 plants here in this Capesis floral kingdom. All the plants here are indigenous to SA. (: |
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| Pigs Ears.... very cute little flowers. |
Yet another scenic vista from the Garden. |
The Cycads section, also known as Bread Trees because of the "loaf" looking lump at the center. Kinda looks like a pineapple, but they all have one. |
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| Cycads (and there are tons of them) are a family of thorny plants, some of which have been dated to when dinosaurs walked earth. Fossils in some regard. |
A particularly spiny cycad. |
This type of Cycad is the ONLY one left in the world. It's a male and will never reproduce another because there is no female to receive its spores. |
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| Cycads area down to the Tree Ferns.... |
A charming little spring area. |
A type of Fig tree. |
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| These trees apparently have the longest leaves in the world. |
A parting shot as we left this area of the Gardens. |
Kirstenbosch sits at the back of Table Mountain. |
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| Some kind of Guinea Hen. A few days ago 2 of these were in the yard and tried to get in the house for a snack. |
Kirstenbosch is huge... with many hiking/walking trails. I'll be back as we only saw 1/8 of the Gardens! |