Cape Floral Region

The Cape Floral Region is one of the few WHS solely focused on flora. ‘Fynbos’ is the key subject here: a diverse shrubland and heathland vegetation with many endemic species. It comes for example in the variation of ‘rooibos’, which is used for the eponymous tea. Although plants aren’t my specific area of interest, I managed to visit Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens and the Table Mountain National Park during my 4 days in Cape Town. These cover only 1 of the 13 inscribed clusters – the other 12 are located in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces.

My explorations started at Kirstenbosch gardens. I was staying at a Bed&Breakfast in Klaassens Road, next to Gate no. 3 of the gardens. This whole area is incredibly lush – and wealthy. Properties sell easily for over 1 million EUR. Entering Kirstenbosch via this upper gate leads you directly to the fynbos and the proteas, both almost only to be found in the Cape Floral Region. With Table Mountain directly in the background, it’s all very pleasing to the eye. The lower part, near main entrance no. 1, is a bit more like a landscape garden and hosted lots of picnickers when I was visiting on a Saturday afternoon.

We’ve discussed before on this website whether it is more important to preserve an iconic and large fauna species such as the giant panda or the mountain gorilla, than for example a mouse or even an ant. This also applies to the flora: …

A large part of the satisfaction I got in ticking this site off stems from the fact that not only did I see the three nature reserves that form the Table Mountain National Park, but, more importantly, I was able to pay proper visits to seven out of the eight protected areas that make up the inscribed serial property (I missed out Groot Winterhoek).

The Cape floral region is a truly unique ecosystem of the fynbos. Kirstenbosch provides a bird's eyeview of the different fynbos that thrive across different habitats, and it would be best to start one's travel here (I, however, started with the Baviaanskloof moving towards Table Mountain then going up to the Cederberg, making the botalnical garden my last stop).

Here are some of the highlights: (a) the beautiful mountain scenery provided by the Swartberg Pass and the Merringspoort Pass. Both connect the Little Karoo and the Great Karoo, and are great feats of mountain engineering; (b) the rock formations of the Cederberg and its good collection of ancient Bushmen paintings (we took the Sevilla rock art trail); (c) the coastal white sand dunes and game drive of De Hoop; (d) views of Strand, Stellenbosch, Franchshoek and the rest fo the Boland area/wine region on top of the Holland-Hottentots mountains; (d) scenic coastal drives by the Cape of Good Hope and Kogelberg biosphere reserve -- very enjoyable!; and (e) imposing beauty of Table Mountain as seen in and around Cape Town - a true world-class landmark! Also …

The WHS additions in July 2004 were a mixed lot in my opinion but 1 stood out for me –the “Cape Floral Region Protected Areas”. Alongside the usual litany of uninspiring/mediocre European sites (Liverpool, Muskauer and Andorra Valley?) and shady political dealings (The Koguryo China/N Korea “compromise”!) here was a site whose selection showed real imagination. A site of genuine uniqueness and justifiable preservation. Yet it took UNESCO from the year 2000 with 2 “deferrals” to get this nomination accepted! So typical of bureaucrats to concentrate on “Dotting the I’s” rather than on the value of the concept!

To quote

“Although the smallest of the world’s 6 principle floristic regions and in a temperate zone it has a degree of species richness comparable with most tropical hotspots. In less than .5% of the area of Africa it has nearly 20% of its flora and in less than 4% of the area of Southern Africa it has nearly 44% of the sub-continental flora of 20367 species. Nearly 69% of its vascular species do not occur naturally anywhere else in the world”

From within this “kingdom” 8 areas have been inscribed stretching as far as 450kms from the city of Capetown. The most famous and easily accessible is that of the Cape Peninsular itself although this is the second smallest - you will go through it if you go down to the Cape of Good Hope (as we did).

To quote again “The distinctive flora which contains 80% …

Situated with the spectacular Cape Floral Kingdom, Table Mountain is a famous landmark and icon for all those that live in the Cape. Being from Johannesburg I had never actually been up to the top of Table Mountain and always wanted to. When eventually including Cape Town in our holiday it was decided that a visit to the Cape Floral Kingdom and the top of Table Mountain was a definite.

Even though it was rather hot, we knew it would be freezing up on the mountain. After clothing ourselves with at least 3 layers of clothes and packing our picnic basket, we headed our way to the famed Table Mountain. We boarded the Cableway which would transport us up to the top of the mountain. The view was spectacular! The cable car’s rotating floor enabled us to see a 360 degree view of the entire city and floral wonderland below! The scenery was absolutely exquisite.

When we arrived at the top of the mountain, I could not wait to see the view. The entire mountain boasts walkways and seating positions from which the city can be admired. On the one side we could see Camps Bay and watch how the sun caused to entire sea to shimmer. On the other side we could appreciate Cape Town’s sheer expanse and could even spot Robben Island! It is so quiet up on the mountain. It is almost as if the world stops when you admire the view up here! Everything else stops …

Visiting Cape Town a collector can visit 2 sites. First is Robben island and second is Cape Floral Region.

This site consists of six (?) parts which are geographicaly in whole region of Western Cape.

So I visited only the "Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden" and Cape Point National park. The whole region is a housing of Fynbos ("fine bush") which is rare only for this part of world. The natural location is very nice and I enjoyed my stay there, especialy on Cape Point even it is very windy. Just be prepared that you will need a whole day for such a trip.

Pic: Lighthouse on Cape Point surrounded by Fynbos