Cape Town’s natural beauty is renowned worldwide. From Table Mountain to Boulders Beach, there are so many incredible attractions that leave visitors enthralled. Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden is the latest to receive international acclaim for its marvellous views.
Kirstenbosch has landed on the community-voted list for the world’s most beautiful botanical gardens, compiled by international travel magazine Atlas Obscura. The magazine asked their readers to send in their favourite green spaces from around the world.
“From university gardens to green spaces at the top of the world, our users shared some amazing places, and we wish we could get to each and every one,” they wrote.
The list is in no particular order, and features 13 botanical gardens from all over the globe. Reader kumalavula named Kirstenbosch among her favourites.
“Kirstenbosch Garden in Cape Town is high on my list. I’ve been to Butchart Gardens in British Columbia, but even in winter that South African beauty took my breath away with the myriad protea species!” she wrote.
Set against the eastern slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is acclaimed as one of the great botanic gardens of the world. In 2020, it was awarded a level IV (4) accreditation by The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and The Morton Arboretum.
The ArbNet Accreditation Program is the only global initiative to officially recognise arboreta based on a set of professional standards. Level IV is the highest level and Kirstenbosch is currently one of 30 gardens accredited at level IV out of 2037 worldwide.
Picture: Twitter/KirstenboschNBG
In 2015, Kirstenbosch was named the International Garden of the Year by the International Garden Tourism Awards.
Picture: Instagram / Kirstenbosch