Home»Galleries»South Africa, Cape of Good Hope - May 2010
13 photos
When one travels through Southern Africa, the itinerary often involves four principle areas of interest, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and either Zambia or Zimbabwe, in order to see Victoria Falls. Images of Namibia and Botswana are in the preceding two galleries, and images from Lesotho and Zambia are in the succeeding two galleries.
The Western Cape area, south of Cape Town, encompasses South Africa’s Cape Floristic Region (also called “Cape Floral Kingdom”), a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Cape Floral Kingdom is the smallest of the six Floral Kingdoms in the world, and it is the only one that is contained entirely within the borders of one country. Although it is, by far, the smallest of the Floral Kingdoms, it is biologically the most diverse, containing more than 9000 species, most of which are endemic. Sadly, over 2400 of these floral species are threatened and another 300 are critically endangered. The world-renowned Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town is an extraordinary tour de force, one of the very best in the world, and displays an astonishing number of these wonderful plants. It is part of the Cape Floristic Region UNESCO World Heritage Site.