Tag: kirstenbosch

SANBI announces new garden access membership scheme

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Indeed. Now that (almost) a year has passed since SANBI (who run the Botanical Gardens in SA) called time on BotSoc members (who are people interested in plants generally, and/or people who wanted “free” access to the Botanical Gardens in SA) getting “free” access to the Botanical Gardens in SA, SANBI has launched its own “free” access programme.

“Free”, because it’s not free at all, but does offer a huge discount on their day to day pricing.

Previously, by being BotSoc members at R562 per adult, and R90 per child, we could (and did) have access to all of the Botanical Gardens in SA. Unlimited access for a whole year, nogal. That was a really good deal. But then SANBI told BotSoc that it wasn’t going to continue, and… well… it ended with any membership that expired after 31 March 2023.

The good news is that – as you may have noticed in the title of this post – SANBI has now announced a new garden access membership scheme.

It’s basically the same as the old BotSoc one, but more expensive (because of reasons, obviously). Adult memberships are now R600 (up 6.76% – ok) [thanks for the correction, Anita B!] R800 (up 42.35%) and kids are R400. That’s a very reasonable 344.44% increase.

And yet it still represents decent value for money, with a day pass to Kirstenbosch R100 for adults and R40 for kids. So six eight adult visits and ten kids’ visits and already you’re ahead of the curve.

The new tickets are available (and valid) from 1st April 2024.

Just another Flycatcher (thank goodness)

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Birthday breakfast at Kirstenbosch and then a quick wander around the gardens before it got too hot.

Crickets, Agamae(?), Agamas(?), Agamasses(?) eish…
An Agama – and then another one – and some pretty flowers (obviously), but not too many birds on show. We did get what we could, though.

I do really like the detail on this sunbird shot

And it even stands the zoom test:

…but the shadows really ruin the image.

And thus we were about to leave disappointed (as far as ‘togging birds went, at least), but then our old friend the inquisitive African Dusky Flycatcher (Muscicapa adusta) popped by.

Absolute bread and butter stuff, but such a willing and dependable subject: and just so cute.

More celebrations planned for this lunchtime, so I’ll have to love you and leave you for the moment, but the great news (T&Cs apply) is that there will almost certainly be more here tomorrow.

Prinia

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Better day today, but that has meant a lot of catching up with stuff that didn’t get done yesterday: shopping, cleaning, exercise etc etc. So I still don’t have a lot of time before the football.

Step forward then, a quota of a Karoo Prinia from Kirstenbosch last year:

Some might say that the Pelargonium spp. leaves on the right are a bit much, but I quite like the balance they give the bird and the dry, brown sticks on the left.

More? Tomorrow.

Day 713 – City view

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Having (finally) renewed our Kirstenbosch passes, we took advantage of the early-bird entry policy and entered Kirstenbosch early.

There were some decent views across the hazy city awakening beneath us.

In this image: Athlone Power Station (two chimneys), Newlands Brewery (steam plume), Newlands Cricket Stadium (floodlights) and Newlands Rugby Stadium (big non-descript block to the left of the Brewery)

A bit of a stroll, plenty of plants, some (sadly rather average) bird experiences and a touch of fresh air (look how high we were above the city smog) made for a great start to the morning. Less so the notification that pinged through while we were there about the imminent Stage 4 loadshedding.

Day 304 – Wander with a camera

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A quick trip to Kirstenbosch Gardens (we’re members now, don’t you know?) this morning with a camera (50mm prime lens only) in hand yielded some decent exercise and a few nice pics, not least this Common Garden Orbweb Spider (Agriope australis), which was much better camouflaged than you might imagine.

Not sure what the thicker woven threads top left and bottom left are, but it was quite an impressive construction for a relatively small spider.

And how about a bit of Erica densifolia to brighten your day?

Because of… well… you know what, a lot of outdoor spaces (basically those without controlled entrance) are out of bounds at the moment and even Kirstenbosch is only open 9-6, leading to huge, mostly socially-distanced queues outside the gates when we arrived. And then the frustrating stupidity of the official at the entrance with his mask under his nose, touching everyone’s hands while taking their temperature, but telling us all to behave safely.

Still, once you’re in, and past the muppets, you can lose yourself nicely for a while.
This was an hour or so well-spent.