Biodiversity Garden - Visitors and Evaluation

Is the interpretive signage in the Biodiversity Garden effective?
It is not an easy thing to evaluate, but I would say people are reading them. However the degree of interpretation part is harder to evaluate. A few storyboards in the Garden engage the reader directly - e.g. Look up to Signal hill - and so when you see someone looking up at the hill, then it's working.

I noticed these two ladies read almost every single sign in the People and Plants theme area, and looked pretty absorbed. The lady in black was leaning forward - means the text is a bit too small.

I just missed the moment: when this lady bent down to pick and smell a piece of wild rosemary - as invited by the storyboard: Reach out to the wild rosemary bush in front of you. Squeeze some leaves gently and smell your fingers. Would you cook with this herb?
John Roff was instrumental in co-writing the texts and finding opportunities to engage visitors. I find this kind of interpretation in action rewarding and exciting!


A cold misty morning (13 degrees) and yet there was a group of school kids in the garden.

Here Wendy Hitchcock is with a school group on another cold morning - playing a climate change game. I heard a roar of excitement and later I heard from Wendy that they were cheering for the roll of the dice which would create a mass extinction!


The visitor's book is almost full. Many comments refer to people feeling proud of our City and what it has achieved (in the Park). There are hundreds of thank yous - a wonderful sense of gratitude.

And then there are the visitors of a different kind: a bee collecting pollen from the sour fig, Carpobrotus acinaciformis. Plus 2 other insects.

I was wondering why some climbers on the Dome had no leaves? One of the Kirstebosch guides pointed out this fat fellow - about 10cm long and as thick as a fat cigar. I wonder what moth or butterfly it will turn into?

Visitors from the Stellenbosch municipality testing the Exercise equipment. And a small sample of folk going through the Biodiversity Garden last Friday, 19th May:







On misty mornings the Garden is bejewelled with spider webs...it's magical.


Our goal is that people leave the Biodiversity Garden with an understanding of biodiversity and why we need it; a love for our natural heritage and the desire to care for it for future generations.

Are we achieving this goal? How does one measure whether it's working?
Although we've had a positive response from the public (in the visitor comments book, on radio phone-ins, emails, during guided walks) it remains a tricky thing to measure. How does one evaluate 'love' and a desire to care?

And the 'understanding of biodiversity' - how does one test someone's knowledge without putting them on the spot?

I would welcome any ideas you may have.

Sunday - Concert in the Park

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On Sunday, 3rd April the City hosted its first concert in the Green Point Park. Stephen Granger attended the event with his photographer's eye and long lens. Judging by the pics, there were many people enjoying themselves, and the event was a great success.

Thanks Stephen for sharing your photos.

Sunday in the Park

On Sunday evening I went to the Park and found it abuzz with activity. People relaxing, picnicing, kids playing, and many people strolling through the Biodiversity Garden.






In the Khoikhoi fire hearth area kids were playing with bones, shells and other artefacts - as the display was intended, as if they had read the script!



I noticed some new bones and porcupine quills in the fire hearth area.
It is wonderful to see how members of the public have responded to the invitation:
"Are you a strandloper at heart? Please bring bones, feathers, quills, tortoise shell and ostrich shells to help maintain this display."
Thank you for helping!


At this sign 'If Signal Hill could speak..." I could see the man looking up at Signal hill, and chatting to his partner. On queue - this is interpretation in action.



Visitors reading text on leaves in the Make a Difference display. And the empty signboards? They will feature case histories of Cape Tonians who are doing great biodiversity work in their communities.


That little hand reaching up to the balustrade...too cute.

The spillway in action: moving water and pebbles....a child's paradise.

Father and son strolling in the wetland

A Biodiversity Issue: Goodbye mopaneveld?

Today I received an email advertising mopane roots. What next? The guy has 9 tons of mopane roots from Nambia and proudly attached a dozen pictures of how they are used - as decor objects.

Argh. Where does all this wood come from? What does the landscape look like once the roots have been dug up, loaded and driven away?

In his website, he states "we focus on braai wood, firewood, ... as well as mopane root sales. Our wood and products are ... sourced straight out of Namibia and South Africa. We are driven with big hearts and a will to please."

It is a pity is big heart does not extend to the environment. He is just one among many of unscrupulous vendors selling illegally gathered hardwood from Namibia and the northern Cape.

The problem is this practise is unsustainable: dead wood is food for termites and a host of other animals, fungi and microorganisms, which return nutrients to the soil - which in turn enables the trees and grasses to grow.It is a natural recycling system which has been going on for millenia. The mass export of hardwood (or any biomass for that matter) will have a severe long-term impact on these arid ecosystems.

Mopane veld

Camel thorn trees, western Namibia

If you want to do your bit to help save these landscapes, don't buy mopane or camel thorn. Be suspicious of anything sold as Namibian hardwood and ask where it comes from.

If you absolutely must have hardwood for your braai (*), ask for Sickle Bush (Dicrostachys cinerea) - a local but invasive plant which is being harvested to control bush encroachment in arid areas. Sickle Bush has become a serious problem in parts of Namibia - forming dense impenetrable thickets - and there are programmes to poison and harvest it, or to convert it into charcoal. The wood has a dark centre and pale sapwood, and is also heavy, making great coals. Bon appetit!

(*) braai - barbeque

The low point before the high

There is an exciting historical reconnection which is going to take place soon. Spring water originating from the Stadtsfontein spring, at the top of Oranjezicht, will be piped to Green Point and fill the lakes.


This spring was the reason why the Khoikhoi lived here at the Cape, and why a settlement started here during the 17th C. "Water from Platteklip and the 13 artesian springs in the city bowl provided the water for Cape Town’s population and trading ships - until it was scrapped from the asset resource register in the late 1990s." To find out more about the historical significance of this water, visit Reclaim Camissa.

It is astonishing to think that for a decade 2.4 million liters / day of spring water ran straight into the sea, but the point is that is about to change. The pipeline is almost complete: I've been told the water will be connected this week. There is enough water to irrigate the entire Green Point common - including the Stadium, golf course, all the sportsfields and the Urban park!

Landscape Plan by OVP Associates

Camissa means 'place of sweet waters' and is the ancient Khoi name for Cape Town. Clearly the historical significance of this reconnection with the spring is enormous. However this abundant source of water also meant that the designers (OVP) could 'afford' to make water a key design feature in the Park. It originates and becomes visible in a 'source' water feature, and runs along open channels and spillways into a series of lakes. The lakes serve as a reservoir for the irrigation and create a natural and friendly boundary between the golf course and the Park.



The past few weeks the water level has been dropping daily and it's terribly low: the planted reed ledges and sand bags are exposed, looking rather sad. The spillways are dry. Even the fish sculpture has lost its charm with the substructure exposed...



So perhaps now you can understand why the City wanted to wait with the opening of the Park? I hope so!

Carex clavata growing on the lake edge