Letná Gardens, Prague

Wonderful ceramic horse sculptures that children were playing on!

Blue horse

I was so impressed with this large leafy green space situated North of the Old Town (The entrance is a 10 minute walk from Letenské náměstí). Not only is it loved by locals, but you will see many tourists enjoying the scenic views over the Vltava River as well as a beer from Letná Beer Garden.

Beer Garden with Views over the Old City and Vltava River

Broad walkways with tall leafy trees make this a lovely park to explore

This park caters for every age: we saw elderly ladies reading; moms with babies and toddlers at the children’s playgrounds; a youth group attending a class under a tree; teens learning to roller blade; hip young men skating and filming stunts; couples picnicking; people walking their dogs or sunbathing or cycling or jogging. A multi-functional space providing recreation opportunities in a safe and well maintained environment. I also saw a fenced off section that was specifically designated for dog training with obstacles where you teach your dog to do tricks.

Skateboarders are entertaining to watch

People admiring the view from Letná Terasa

Giant Metronome sculpture ticking away

Like most public spaces there is an element of vandalism which is particularly present at the uppermost viewing point where most of the skate-boarding takes place. This is also the platform with the best view point of the city which is dominated by a giant moving Metronome – one of the many quirky artworks dotted around the city)

I always orientate myself when I arrive somewhere by looking at the map they provide

Even through the graffiti it's interesting to read the Park's history

If you need a breather form the tourist filled streets of Malá Strana, this is the perfect place to go!

Harold Porter Botanical Garden

Harold Porter Botanical Gardens is located within the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve and its flora constitutes the Cape Floral Kingdom – one of only six floristic regions in the world – comprising approximately 8800 species, of which 70% are endemic. Fynbos, a part of his floral kingdom, is characterized by shrubby plants such as proteas, ericas, buchus, legumes, bruias, daisies, bulbous plants and reedlike restios in place of grasses. (SANBI pamphlet purchased at Harold Porter Botanical Gardens) I was so excited to spend a morning exploring and photographing fynbos!

The gardens sit at the foot of the 900m high sandstone peaks of the Kogelberg Mountains

I drove over the scenic Franschoek Pass to Betty’s Bay to visit this small botanical gardens I had heard so much about. Since joining the Botanical Society I have been curious to see what this little garden looks like.

A beautiful dark pond with blue water lilies, reflecting the mountains behind it, welcomed me as I entered the garden. I quickly realised that I couldn’t take enough photos of the stunning fynbos plants on display here. Every colour and texture you can imagine! There were lots of Erica varieties in flower which the sunbirds were loving too.

So much texture. What a beautiful display of indigenous plants!

We spotted a tortoise enjoying a stroll in the garden!

Unfortunately the walk to Disa Waterfall was closed for renovations. There are also various other more strenuous hikes you can take into the mountains and I can imagine the views from up there must be wonderful.

I looked at their indigenous plant nursery but had to hold myself back from buying any plants.. trekking them all the way back to JHB isn't always a great idea. After a quick visit to Stony Point to view the breeding Penguin colony and a stop in at John the Potter, a beautiful ceramic studio, we headed back over the pass to Franschoek.

Lots of Penguins!

Harold Porter Botanical Garden:

Garden Hours (According to Pamphlet purchased at Gardens)

Opening Time: 365 days a year from 08h00

Closing Times: No entry after 16h30 on weekdays and 17h00 on weekends and public holidays. Visitors already in the garden may stay until 18h00 in winter (April to October) and 19h00 in summer (November to March)

Special Late Closing Times: Entry until 19h00 during the simmer festive season (as advertised). The garden will close at 21h00.

Concerts: Opening and Closing times will be as advertised including on our website.

Contact Details: Clarence Drive (R44) Betty’s Bay. Tel 028 272 9311. Email Harold.Porter.NBG@sanbi.org.za. Website: www.sanbi.org.z

Karoo National Park

On our way to Cape Town we stayed over in Beaufort West and went into the Karoo National Park for a few hours in the late afternoon. Day visitors pay R40 pp (RSA citizens).

Some interesting history about the park from the brochure: "During the late 1950s a local farmer William Quinton campaigned for a conservation area in the Beaufort West vicinity. However, it was only in the 1970s that the South African National Parks proposed the establishment of a National Park that would be representative of the Nama Karoo Biome after a campaign launched by the South African Nature Foundation and funded through the commission and sale of special art stamps, depicting the flora and fauna of the Great Karoo,"

I asked the ranger at the gate if there were actually lions in the reserve, and he proudly told me that there were indeed; eleven in fact. Considering the size of the park (just under 90 000 hectares) we realised our chances of spotting one were slim! Game is not abundant in this reserve (we saw 1x Gemsbok, 1x Kudu, 1x Red Hartebeest and some Klipspringer in our two hour stay) but this is a reserve you visit more for the landscape and experience rather than for animal spotting.

One such experience is driving up Klipspringer Pass: the road that snakes its way up the mountain is constructed with a beautiful, curving stone packed retaining wall. It is reminiscient of the Zimbabwe ruins and is quite beautiful to see. I wonder how long it took to construct?

There are lovely birds to see (more than 200 spp). Apparently the Park boasts one of the largest concentrations of breeding pairs of Verraux's Eagles (Black Eagles) in the country. We were fortunate enough to spot a pair soaring over Klipspringer Gorge Look out Point.

We didn't stay over in the park, but the beautiful Cape Dutch style self-catering units look picturesque with expansive views over the Karoo landscape. The campsite looked very inviting with lots of vegetation and grass as well as good facilities - we will have to come camp here one day! Visit www.sanparks.org to check availability or make a booking.

I didn't have high expectations for the the 300m Fossil Walk, but we decided to do it before heading back to town. The slightly raised stone pathway (wheelchair accessible) was beautiful: clean and smooth as it weaved its way through the golden grasses and Karoo scrub. I appreciated that plants were given name tags every few metres and the fossil boards were very informative. I have to admit that I am not all that excited about animals that lived and died millions of years ago, but I really enjoyed the walk because you get to experience the landscape and feel part of the nature that you are in. And isn't that we we are looking for when we go someone different: experience the place you are visiting, connect with the beauty around you.

ILASA 2015 Year End Function

On the 6th of November we spent the morning exploring the incredibly beautiful Nirox Sculpure Park (http://niroxarts.com) situated in the Cradle of Mankind. The park manager Stephan du Toit gave us a brief history of the park and also some interesting insights into how the park was designed and how it functions on a day to day basis. The park is closed to the public but opens for special events and functions such as the upcoming concert with Freshly Ground. Stephan also informed us of an exciting partnership happening next year with Yorkshire Sculpture Park which will take the form of the winter sculpture fair, definitely something to look forward to.

The park is looking remarkably lush and green in comparison to the rest of Johannesburg where the heat and drought is taking its toll. Stephan said that he does not feel guilty about irrigating because the water is taken from the water system that runs through the property and the water ultimately works its way back into the same system.

It really is something special to walk in such a large open area, woven with water bodies and beautifully maintained, and then discover beautifully placed sculptures that are intriguing and delightful.

The walk was followed by a delicious three course meal at Le Sel restaurant where refreshments were well received while enjoying the beautiful view. Eamonn gave a brief speech and the ILASA 2016 conference was discussed, urging everyone to put 29 and 30 September 2016 into their calendars. A great way to end the year off. See you all next year!

IERM Convention: Olifantsvlei Cemetery

I was fortunate to sit next to Reggie Moloi who not only acted as tour guide, giving us entertaining commentary as we drove through Soweto, but also passionately shared insights into the City of Johannesburg’s cemeteries. He proudly told me about the numerous awards the Diepsloot Cemetry has won... how the Jewish and Muslim sectors of Westpark Cemetry are run… how the crematoriums were mostly run by the Hindu community and how objective you need to be in this line of work when most people can be irrational and highly emotive. Another wealth of information in this field is a recently published book called “A journey through Johannesburg’s Parks, Cemeteries and Zoo” by Lucille Davie which was showcased at the convention.

Reggie continued to explain that Avalon Cemetry is 172 hectrares with a 45 hectare extension, but some areas are too rocky and it is nearing full capacity. Furthermore, all central cemeteries (besides Westpark) are full. For this reason the City of Johannesburg looked to Olifantsvlei to be the new cemetery that will serve Soweto. It is 400 hectares and estimated to last sixty years with 888,000 first burials. I found the “recycling” of graves quite interesting: one grave can be used for up to three burials as long as it is within the same family. Reggie jokingly said, “If we mix family graves, the ancestors will fight”.  

The cemetery has most infrastructure in place including roads, trees and impressive gabion entrances to the various sections of the cemetery. The circular forms referred to as “cells” give the cemetery an organic and spacious feel. Cells will have different themes including areas with headstones, a full memorial and a memorial garden with only plaques. The wall that has been built around the cemetery (at a cost of R80 million) has been built specifically to incorporate gaps in the pillars so that small animals can pass through it. This is to comply with the environmental impact assessments done for the site.

One problem they are facing, which is preventing the cemetery from opening, is constructing the entrance. Council has indicated that an expensive bridge needs to be built because of the busy road it is located on. There are further ambitious plans for the cemetery, including introducing game into the conservation area close to the stream, employing 200 people, building a one stop commercial facility with florists etc. and removing the paving in future to maximize space. 

IERM Convention: Leratong Park Site Visit

The annual IERM convention was held on the 28th,29th and 30th of September at Glenburn Lodge in Johannesburg. After two days of informative and insightful lectures everyone was excited to spend the third day out in the field to view some of the parks developed by Johannesburg City Parks (JCP). The atmosphere was relaxed and jovial as everyone climbed onto the luxury air-conditioned buses that the City of Joburg had sponsored, which we were so grateful for when the temperatures soared into the high thirties.

The first park we visited was Leratong Park where you are welcomed by a large red steel sculpture, consisting of several hands on tall masts shaped in the hand signal that means “I love you” in sign language. The park is situated in Region C, located in the Greater Roodepoort area near Krugersdorp, in an informal settlement and named after the nearby Leratong Hospital. 

Puleng Ditabe, Regional Manager of Region C, shared insights into the park and described the two main challenges that they were faced, the first was finding suitable space for development. The park is in fact built on a servitude where Rand Water pipes run and ironically you will see signs throughout the park warning people to stay clear of the area because of the pipes running below, although this is quite the contrary now that the park has been built. Although it is risky this was one of the only open areas available and Rand Water and JCP were able to come to an agreement because the pipes do not need to be accessed regularly. The second challenge was vandalism as they had a recycling station that was burned. 

Puleng with David and Fortunate who are permanently employed to take care of the park

Vendor bordering the park

The park is 2 hectares in size and boasts numerous brand new facilities including: artificial turf soccer field, netball court, outdoor gym, braai areas, two playground areas, ablutions and a vegetable garden. The vegetable garden has not been handed over to the community yet and I imagine that managing this production in a public space has its own challenges. Planting Fruit Trees was raised as a question and Thabang Mokone from JCP mentioned that Urban Forestry and Food Security are priorities for the City of Johannesburg and educating people is what is needed for fruit trees to become successful. 

Playground

Soccer Field

Food Garden

As with any successful park the community needs to take ownership and adopt the facility as its own. Only in this way will the community take pride in it and make sure that it is maintained and cared for. We met two of the community members who have been permanently employed to work in Leratong Park: David, head gardener, who reports to a senior horticulturalist and Fortunate who not only looks after the ablutions, but acts as a mother and caretaker to the park.

Many Olive and Bushwillow trees have been planted which is in line with the City of Joburg’s drive to make the Southern suburbs greener. The park is not fenced off and neighbouring houses are encouraged to have gates that open onto the park so that they can use and enjoy it. Phase 1 was completed in 2014 financial year and cost R1.7 million while Phase 2 was recently completed in 2015 and cost R2.4 million. A large amount of money was invested into this flagship park and it is evident that its investors care deeply about it, now it is up to the community to fall in love with it too.