A Garden and Museum Trip

The National Botanical Garden and Transvaal Museum in Pretoria

On the first Sunday of our trip we spent the morning in the Pretoria Botanical gardens. This garden is one of the eight Gardens of the National Botanical Institute of South Africa. This Garden is situated 8 km from the centre of Pretoria and accommodates both subtropical and temperate plants, giving the visitor a glimpse of the beautiful and varied flora of the subcontinent. The garden boasts a variety of natural areas ranging from African Savanna, grassland, Koppie, Shade garden, Succulent garden and a waterfall and shady forest. Many rare and endangered species of plants are protected in the garden and there is also a national Herbarium (The fourth largest in the Southern hemisphere) where plants are catalogued and preserved as dry specimens.

We also walked to the medicinal garden with plants traditionally used by the Ndebele people for healing. This part of the garden is landscaped with pathways for access and I chuckled about Peter even showing a keen interest in the variety of cobblestones and bricks used to lay out the paths. A traditional healer's hut, decorated in colourful Ndebele patterns enhances the medicinal garden.

We enjoyed the walk so much that we decided to come back on a week day to visit the herbarium and the book store and library. We also wanted to go back again on a Sunday to have a traditional South African "potjiekos" meal at the garden's restaurant. Potjiekos is - a popular item for a typical South African braai - featuring a stew cooked in a cast iron pot over an open fire. Well, we managed to go back for a very interesting visit to the herbarium but never had the opportunity to sample the potjiekos.

The Transvaal Museum

Cycads in the Botanical Garden

We started off our walk past the cycad garden and up with the koppie - the Silverton Ridge - which forms a natural divide between the southern developed garden and the northern African Savanna area. The cycad garden is established on the cooler southern slopes of the natural koppie and has a collection of African species of cycads - the most primitive seed-bearing plants on earth.

Our walk past the cycad garden took us along a shaded garden following a little stream where we saw a myriad of shade - loving plants including a rare collection of clivias or African Bush lilies. We followed the ficus trail and also walked along the dassie trail at the top of the koppie where it was rather hot. Peter had to use the garden brochure to protect his head from getting sun-burnt (smile)!! It was therefore nice to walk down again to the waterfall and shady forest. The garden is not small at all but I was amazed at the variety of plants and different types of indigenous and other vegetation confined to such a relatively small area.

The herb garden & Ndebele huts

Later that afternoon we went to the Transvaal museum where the famous skull of Mrs Ples is kept. Mrs Ples is the nickname of an ancient skull and virtually complete cranium of an early ape-like creature that was found at the Sterkfontein Caves near Johannesburg. The story of Mrs Ples will follow later. Peter was most interested in the displays at the museum and spent a few hours marvelling at the displays that ranged from various stuffed animals and birds to fossils and what not! This gave him the opportunity to have a closer look at many of the animals that he would later see in their natural habitats in the game parks.

After visiting the natural history museum we stopped in downtown Pretoria near Church plain where Peter had his first taste of South African beer. This was the beginning of many beer tasting sessions.
Then we went home to pack and get ready for our trip to the Drakensberg and Natal that was scheduled for the following morning.
(Note: You may want to have a look at www.nbi.co.za the web page of the National Botanical Institute of South Africa where more information about the eight botanical gardens can be found)

Church Plain Pretoria