Enjoy one of the best gardens in the world – here in Johannesburg

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The Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens in Johannesburg were recently included in a Huffington Post list of 13 of the best botanical gardens in the world.

According to the newspaper they asked some experts – horticulturalists and administrators at a botanical garden in the United States, a nursery owner on the West Coast of the United States, the president of a US-based floral group with an international membership, a garden writer and editor in Scotland, and a few plant geeks – for help in drawing up the list.

From their suggestions the paper compiled a list of 13 of ‘the world’s best botanical gardens, the ones that should be on the bucket list of everyone who loves plants’.

The gardens are in Africa, the United States, Asia, Canada, Europe and the United. 

The Walter Sisulu gardens, named after the anti-apartheid activist and African National Congress stalwart, were founded in 1982. 

 According to the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi), the garden has been voted the best picnic spot in Gauteng for 5 years in a row.

The natural vegetation of the area consists of a mosaic of grassland and savannah, with dense bush in kloofs. There are a number of streams and a waterfall is one of the top attractions in the gardens.

There are over 600 naturally-occurring plant species, more than 200 birds species amongst them, a breeding pair of Verreaux's Eagles, and an abundance of reptiles and small mammals, including small antelope and jackals.

Category: Attractions