South Africa – 2017 – Kirstenbosch National Gardens

Oct. 18 – We went to the gardens today. We took a cab.

The driver was a very nice young man who was coming to America to work on a cruise ship. We had a pleasant chat with him and wished him well on his adventure in America.

The gardens are on the side of a mountain on land donated by Cecil Rhodes when he died in 1902. It is a beautiful place and worth a visit any time you happen to be passing through Cape Town and have a few hours to spare.

Scientists here have developed a yellow bird of paradise and named it after President Mandela. There was a Kirstenbosch family in the history of this area, but no family member ever owned this land.

Harold Pearson was the chair of Botany at the The South African College. The government started out years ago giving them 1000 pounds to keep up the gardens. Over the years it has become one of the finest Botanical gardens in the world.

Read my books on Amazon now, “The Adventures of the Smith Family” and the follow up novel, “Sailing Away.”

“The Adventures of the Smith Family” is about luck and hard work making a grand future possible for a poor serf who was tied to the land of Lord Huntington.

There are more books there, including, “Kazu, son of Oshida Kamaski,” “Dreams of Costa Rica,” and “Judgment Day.”

Read parts of all of my books on my website. They are all available both in ebooks and paperback if you are “old school,” like myself.

“Sailing Away” is a journey from London, through the Mediterranean Sea and on to South Africa with history and stories about the different countries and the crew on the Ever Ready as she sails on. She is a fictional, 18th century merchant sailing ship.

Meet the crew and follow their exploits from London to the tip of Africa and perhaps back again, if all goes according to plan.

Meet Lawrence and his younger brother Sam. Both men want and need to make a better future for themselves and their family in the harsh world of the 18th Century.

I am now on Facebook at R.C. Hand.

Read “Sailing Away” on Amazon now by R. C. Hand or Google R. C. Hand, author for more information about myself and my books.

You can email me at cowboyproductions52@gmail.com