Skip to content
forestyas
EN

South Africa South Africa arboretum

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

Armineaghayan · CC BY-SA 4.0

62% trees around it and 1,002 species recorded.

67Forestyas Score

ArboretumFungiBirds

  • trees within 3 km62%
  • wild within 10 km66%
  • species recorded1,002
  • Altitude130 m

The forest around

62% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 86%Shrubland 4%Grassland 2%Built-up 8%Trees 59%Shrubland 16%Grassland 16%Water 1%Built-up 9%Trees 35%Shrubland 17%Grassland 21%Water 0%Cropland 0%Built-up 26%Trees 14%Shrubland 6%Grassland 19%Water 20%Bare ground 1%Cropland 2%Built-up 39%62%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km86%
  • 1–3 km59%
  • 3–6 km35%
  • 6–10 km14%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees59%
  • Shrubland16%
  • Grassland16%
  • Water1%
  • Bare ground0%
  • Cropland0%
  • Built-up9%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

1,002 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Silver treeVU
Silver treeLeucadendron argenteum130 recordsAndrew Massyn · Public domain
Brabejum stellatifolium
Brabejum stellatifoliumBrabejum stellatifolium52 recordsSAplants · CC BY-SA 4.0
Western boxelder
Western boxelderAcer negundo46 recordsMatt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Cape-chestnut
Cape-chestnutCalodendrum capense46 recordsMelburnian · CC BY 2.5
Cooper's tree fern
Cooper's tree fernSphaeropteris cooperi41 recordsAmanda Grobe · CC BY-SA 2.5
King Protea
King ProteaProtea cynaroides41 records© Pierre André · CC BY-SA 4.0
Purple woodsorrel
Purple woodsorrelOxalis purpurea40 recordsSAplants · CC BY-SA 4.0
Blisterleaf
BlisterleafKnowltonia vesicatoria38 recordsSAplants · CC BY-SA 4.0
Erica hirtiflora
Erica hirtifloraErica hirtiflora34 recordsAndrew massyn · Public domain
Kiggelaria africana
Kiggelaria africanaKiggelaria africana33 recordsSAplants · CC BY-SA 4.0
Asparagus scandens
Asparagus scandensAsparagus scandens32 recordsS Molteno · Public domain
Honeysuckle heath
Honeysuckle heathErica abietina32 recordsEric Hunt · CC BY 2.5

Open records within 2 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

67out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 62%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 66%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 1,002Speciesrecorded more than once within 2 km
  • 130 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking in April and from October to November.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan22°18°14 mm
  2. Feb22°19°9 mm
  3. Mar21°18°17 mm
  4. Apr19°16°37 mm
  5. May18°15°51 mm
  6. Jun16°14°91 mm
  7. Jul16°13°81 mm
  8. Aug16°13°76 mm
  9. Sep16°14°40 mm
  10. Oct18°15°31 mm
  11. Nov19°16°30 mm
  12. Dec21°17°12 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.

Botanical garden

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is an arboretum in South Africa.

Seen from space, 62% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 66% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

1,002 species have been recorded around it: 690 plants, 162 fungi, 145 birds and 5 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Silver tree, Brabejum stellatifolium and Western boxelder.

The best time to walk is in April and from October to November.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden by ArmAg (21)
Armineaghayan · CC BY-SA 4.0

Get there and walk

  • VisitingHours in OpenStreetMap: Oct-Mar 08:00-19:00; Apr-Sep 08:00-18:00Official site
  • Orange Kloof Tented Campcampsite · 4.2 km · 2 within 10 km
  • Cellars Hohenortplace to stay · 1.6 km · 314 within 10 km
  • Newlandsnearest town · 1.8 km in a straight line
  • Cape Town International Airport (CPT)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 16 km in a straight lineCar hire at CPT airport (Cape Town)Discover Cars · sponsored link

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at CPT airport (Cape Town)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 28marked trails within 5 kmContour Path, Platteklip Gorge, Diagonal Route and 25 more
  • 6named and notable trees within 6 kmCedar Tree, Giant Gum Tree, Big Tree and 3 more
  • 33picnic sites within 4 kmNewlands Forrest Picnic Site, Saddle Rock and 31 more
  • 38shelters and huts within 6 kmMCSA Table Mountain Hut, CPMC Hut, The People's Trail Hut and 35 more
  • 34viewpoints within 5 kmOld Cableway, Kloof Corner, Bel Ombre and 31 more
  • 3visitor centres within 6 kmPlatteklip Visitor Information Centre, Table Mountain Aerial Cableway
  • 82car parks within 3 km
  • 2campsites within 10 kmOrange Kloof Tented Camp, Parkhaus
  • 314places to stay within 10 kmCellars Hohenort, The Vineyard Hotel, The Orangery and 311 more
  • 44restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas59 mountains within 25 km
Fernwood Peak1,003 m · 2.3 kmTable Mountain1,085 m · 3.4 kmDevil's Peak1,002 m · 3.7 kmLion's Head669 m · 7.0 kmSignal Hill350 m · 8.3 kmConstantiaberg927 m · 8.6 kmKarbonkelberg653 m · 12 kmChapman's Peak592 m · 13 km
Coastya9 beaches within 10 km
Luibaai7.4 kmMaiden’s Cove7.6 kmLogie’s Bay8.6 kmSunset Beach8.9 kmQueens Beach8.9 kmMilton Pool9.1 kmGraaff’s Pool9.4 kmFlora Bay9.5 km
Lakeyas3 lakes within 15 km
Princess Vlei0.2 km² · 8.2 kmSandvlei0.5 km² · 12 kmZeekoevlei2.0 km² · 12 km
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 km
South African Astronomical ObservatoryBortle 9 · 7.2 km
Viewyas1 viewpoints within 15 kmComing soon
Table Mountain1,085 m · 3.3 km
Birdyas2 birding sites within 25 km
Raapenberg Bird Sanctuary233 species · 7.3 kmBoulders Penguin Colony183 species · 23 km
Canyonyas1 canyons within 20 km
Skeleton Gorge1.7 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

2006 02 Kirstenbosch 12
Frode Inge Helland · CC BY 2.5
Castle Rock from Kirstenbosch
Andrew Massyn · Public domain
Kirstenbosch - View from the Botanical Gardens
Didier B ( Sam67fr ) · CC BY 2.5

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q289277) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species99,781 open records within 2 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Coastya, Lakeyas, Darkskyas, Viewyas, Birdyas, Canyonyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here