Kirstenbosch is a botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of 10 National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa’s six different biomes and administered by the South African National Biodiversity Institute.
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is acclaimed as one of the great botanic gardens of the world. Few gardens can match the sheer grandeur of the setting of Kirstenbosch, against the eastern slopes of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.
Address: Rhodes Dr, Newlands, Cape Town, 7735
Kirstenbosch has sheltered, and provided water and food for many peoples over the millennia. The presence of Stone Age man is indicated by hand-axes and stone implements found in the Dell. By the time the Europeans first sailed around the Cape in the late 1400s, the Khoikhoi people were using this land and had been here for about 2000 years.
Two clans lived on the Cape Peninsula, the Gorachouqua and the Goringhaiqua. They grazed their cattle in Table Valley in early summer, travelled to the Hout Bay area in midsummer and crossed the Cape Flats to the Boland during winter.
In April 1652 Jan Van Riebeeck, acting for the Dutch East India Company, arrived at the Cape to set up a refreshment station for passing ships. The settlement soon spread to our side of TableMountain in search of timber and farmland.
On 27 October 1657 a stretch of forest that included Kirstenbosch was granted to Leendert Cornelissen, a free carpenter and sawyer. At that time, this land was known as Leendertsbos. Cornelissen was responsible for protecting the forest from indiscriminate hacking for firewood in order to provide a steady supply of wood for the settlement.
The settlement lay in the path of traditional Khoikhoi grazing routes and open conflict broke out between the Khoikhoi and the settlers during 1659-60. Kirstenbosch lay on the frontier and Cornelissen and his men were involved in a skirmish with a group of Khoikhoi people in the forest in May 1659.
Jan Van Riebeeck decided that a defensive barrier was required to protect the settlement. In 1659 they started building a wooden fence, with watchtowers, from the mouth of the Salt River through Rondebosch to Kirstenbosch, using the deeper sections of the Liesbeeck River as part of the barrier.
But the fence was expensive, and slow-going. In 1660 Van Riebeeck ploughed up and planted the remaining section between the river and Kirstenbosch with a hedge of Wild Almond trees (Brabejum stellatifolium) and thorny brambles. Sections of Van Riebeeck’s Hedge still survive in Kirstenbosch.
By 1661 Leendert Cornelissen was discharged from his office as a Burgher Councillor for brawling, fighting and swearing, and little is heard of him after 1672 when Leendertsbos reverted to the Company. During the time that the forests were being harvested, the woodcutters made tracks through the forest where timber was hauled out, some of them are still in use as footpaths or access roads. All that remains of the woodcutter’s house is a few piles of stones and a line of stones across the Stinkwood Trail.
The name Kirstenbosch
The name Kirstenbosch first appeared in 1795, when it was listed on an inventory of property drawn up and handed over to the British Occupying forces, but the origin of the name is uncertain. It suggests a link to the Kirsten family.
A number of families with the name Kirsten lived in the Cape at the time but none of them ever owned the property, and no connection has ever been traced. Nevertheless, it is probable that the land somehow became associated with one of the members of the Kirsten family, and became known as Kirstenbosch (Kirsten’s Forest).
Kirstenbosch bought and sold, farmed and neglected
In 1811, during the second British Occupation, Kirstenbosch was divided into two halves and sold. The southern half was sold to Colonel Christopher Bird, the Deputy Colonial Secretary. The northern half was granted to Henry Alexander, the Colonial Secretary. Bird did not stay long, but while he was in residence he built the bird-shaped pool around the spring in the Dell. He sold his half to Alexander in 1812.
Alexander built his homestead where the Marquee Lawn and Lecture Hall are today. Alexander died in 1818. His property, including Bird’s half, was sold to the widow Versveld in 1823, sold again the same year to D.G. Eksteen who then transferred it to his son-in-law, C.D.H. Cloete, in 1853. Cloete farmed the land of Kirstenbosch, planting fruit trees, vines and many oaks. The Cloetes lived in and extended the house built by Alexander.
In 1895 Cecil John Rhodes purchased Kirstenbosch. He appointed a caretaker, and planted the avenue of Camphor trees and Moreton Bay Figs in 1898. But the land was neglected and became rundown, and was overrun with feral pigs wallowing in muddy pools and feeding on the acorns. The farmhouse was left empty and fell into ruin.
Rhodes died in 1902 and bequeathed the land to the Government. The Forestry Department planted the Kirstenbosch estate and Cecelia with Pines and Eucalypts, and Kirstenbosch became even more neglected.
A Botanic Garden is born
Harold Pearson came to South Africa in 1903 to fill the newly established chair of Botany at the South African College. He saw the need for a botanic garden in Cape Town and set about achieving that goal. Pearson had decided that the eastern slopes were the most suitable site for the garden and was thinking it could be at Grootte Schuur Estate, which would then be linked to the university that was to be established there.
But in 1911 Neville Pillans, a young botanist and enthusiastic gardener who knew Kirstenbosch well and saw its possibilities, brought Pearson to see it. They drove up Rhodes’ Avenue in a Cape cart, stopped at the main gate, Pearson got out, surveyed the landscape and exclaimed, “This is the place!”
In May 1913 the Government set aside the estate of Kirstenbosch for the establishment of a National Botanic Garden at Kirstenbosch and agreed to contribute £1000 per annum. The Botanical Society was formed on 10 June 1913 and held its first general meeting on 31 July 1913. Its aims were to encourage the public to get involved in the development of Kirstenbosch, to augment the Government grants, to organise botanical shows, and to enlighten and instruct members on botanical subjects.
The Garden was to be controlled by a Board of five Trustees, three appointed by the Government, one by the Municipality of Cape Town and one by the Botanical Society. The Board held its first meeting on 16 June 1913, and appointed Pearson as Honorary Director (with no salary) and J.W. Mathews as Curator. A Secretary, a Ranger and a Gardener were also appointed. On the 1st of July 1913 the Kirstenbosch estate was handed over to the Board of Trustees.
2003 ICC Cricket World Cup: Feb 9 – Mar 24, 2003 – South Africa, along with Kenya and Zimbabwe, co-hosted the Cricket World Cup. Though the Proteas were eliminated early, the event was a success in terms of hosting skills.
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