Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens - Cape Town, South Africa

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens are located at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. It was established in 1913 to preserve the indigenous plants of the area, the first botanical garden in the world to have that focus and it is also the largest botanical garden in the world, about five square miles. The manager of the land in the 1700s was named Kirsten and bosch is the Dutch word for forest or bush, so it is believed that is how the name "Kirstenbosch" came about. 

We arrived in Cape Town after an 11 1/2 hour flight from London and 32 1/2 hours of travel from California with the only sleep being what we'd been able to get on flights. We rented a car and Kirstenbosch was one of the stops we made that day in a real effort to stay awake and acclimatize. 

I mostly took photos of wildlife, for a better overview of Kirstenbosch, here is Judy's post. Here are some of my photos from Kirstenbosch:

Cape spurfowl

Natal spurfowl

Gurney's helmeted guineafowl

Cape turtle dove

The best view of Egyptian geese I've ever had and the lighting was great. 

This goose is in a tree.