Arriving at the Harold Porter botanical garden, we were greeted by our guides Eunice and Gary. Once everyone had arrived, we sat on the grass as Eunice explained how unhealthy water gets from all the pollution it picks up as it flows down a river. The small children especially enjoyed this as the hands on demonstration allowed each child to throw a camera capsule full of different types of pollution into the bottle.
After they did the demonstration, the group split up with the grade 2 and below group going with Gary to do a frog experiment. Each of us in the grade 2 and up group received a worksheet and a laminated card and we were told to look out for our animal’s environment or our plant as we walked through the gardens.
Walking through the wetlands, the first plant we found was a Bloodroot also known as a Wachendorfia Thrysifolia. Since we were limited on time we were not able to find every animal and plant, but we were very lucky to be able to examine a rare marsh rose growing in the garden. This is an extremely rare plant that is close to extinction and is only found high in the mountains of the Overberg region. After visiting the waterfall, we had a lovely picnic under the trees. Eunice was a lovely guide conversing with all of us and answering all the questions. Overall, it was a very fun and educational outing.
