Hermanus
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Hermanus
     Gerhard and I spent Christmas  in Hermanus with his sister Annerie and her family.  While there, we paid a visit to the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden which is located in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve, about 50km west of Hermanus.  There are 1,650 plant species listed in this reserve making it one of the fynbos hotspots in South Africa.  Probably the most famous fynbos plant is the protea.  It is the national flower for South Africa and comes in a myriad of sizes, shapes, and colors.  (Click the left and right arrows to see all the photos.)

Gerhard is doing his Tarzan imitation on the type of vines that Tarzan supposedly swung on.

The terrain ranges from fynbos to forest as you can see here.

The walk up the kloof is beautifully shaded on this side.

The water that runs through fynbos is this dark orange color due to all the tannins and chemicals produced by the plants.

Disa flowers are a type of orchid which flowers only during the summer.

In the Disakloof, the disas grow high up on a cliff so it's difficult to get really good pictures of them.

In fynbos, you get a lot of plants that are very hardy and suited to dry summer conditions. The flowers here feel like they're dried, even while live.

Gerhard enjoys photography as much as I!

Waterfalls are found in many kloofs here.

ranging from orange...

to pink...

to almost redish...

to yellow.

Look at the size of these flowers!

Waterlilies are beautifully serene flowers.