Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town on the slopes of Table Mountain has a long history dating back from Jan van Riebeck, 1652. Cecil John Rhodes acquired the Kirstenbosch land in 1895 from the Cloete Family and planted the avenue of Camphor trees and Moreton Bay Figs under the supervision of a caretaker. Rhodes left the gardens to the care of the government. The Government set aside the gardens as a Botanical Gardens. The founders of Kirstenbosch were confronted with a neglected, overgrown farm, a ruined homestead, hordes of pigs, thickets of weeds and extensive plantations of alien plants. Much of the early work involved eradicating the aliens and clearing the land of weeds, and constructing pathways for easy access.
Development started in the Dell area and in the first ten to fifteen years many of the principle features of the garden were established. The main lawn was cleared and planted, hundreds of cycads were planted in the Cycad Amphitheatre, the rock work along the Bath stream and stone work in the Dell and the Cycad Amphitheatre was completed, Col. Bird's Bath was restored, the Main Pond was excavated, Mathew's Rockery and the Koppie were built, the Protea Garden, Erica Garden and Arboretum were begun, and the living plant collections were being built up.
In the early days, and indeed for the first 50 or so years, most of the work was done manually, using trolleys, mules, carts and crawlers.
Today picnics are allowed in the garden, together with walking, tours, sunset concerts (in summer), tree canopy tour on the Boomslang and running and mountain biking on the slopes of Table Mountain.
The Garden is open every day from 08h00 to 19h00 during summer (Sep-Mar), 08h00 to 18h00 during winter (Apr-Aug).