Young people celebrate Cape Town’s fynbos at Princess Vlei

The Princess Vlei Forum set out to “open the minds” of young people to the variety and beauty of Cape Town’s fynbos at its Fynbos Fantasia parade, at Princess Vlei, in Retreat, on Saturday, October 25.

More than 170 young people from local primary and high schools - and some from further afield - gathered to celebrate the rich floral diversity of the region.

The group met at Retreat Civic Centre for face painting and to create fynbos-inspired headdresses before enjoying performances by four primary schools - Rosmead, Levana, Hillwood and Floreat - and poems written and read by Lotus High pupils Tracy Daniels, Paige Eden, and Hafzah Mahmoud. They also watched a performance of Hoerikwaggo, a story about Table Mountain’s baboons returning a lost baby to its parents.

The celebration encouraged an awareness of the beauty and ecological interdependence of fynbos plants and the insects, birds, and animals that pollinate them.

“Art, dance, observation, and all five senses - taste, touch, sight, scent, and hearing - were incorporated to help pupils fully experience the local flora. Pupils were also introduced to the spiritual and cultural connections that First Nations people have with these plants,” said Bridgett Pitt, founding member of the Princess Vlei Forum. 

For more than two months, pupils had been engaging with the fynbos at Princess Vlei, preparing poems, dances, and artworks for the event. They also designed T-shirts featuring local flowers and pollinators. Crestway High pupils took it a step further by creating elaborate “flower hats” adorned with oversized versions of proteas, rain daisies, pincushions, bietou, and wilde dagga.

When the time came for the parade, pupils poured onto the streets of Sassmere Estate in colourful T-shirts, headdresses, flower hats, and bird puppets made by previous groups of learners, moving to the rhythm of drummers trained by the Jungle Theatre Company.

“The procession wound its way to Princess Vlei and along the edge of the water on the newly constructed walkway,” said Ms Pitt.

“At the water’s edge, Shihaam Domingo saluted the Princess of Princess Vlei and led learners in a traditional Khoe song to honour women.”

“Princess Vlei… You are not alone anymore… we are here to inspire the next generation to love you as we do,” recited Hafzah Mahmoud of Lotus High in her poem at the event.

Pupils from various schools concluded the day by pledging to care for nature and for Princess Vlei for future generations.

“We act like we have a spare Earth in our pockets, but we don’t. Nature doesn’t need us - we need nature, so we’d better start treating it with respect,” said a Crestway High pupil.

“Thanks to restoration efforts over the past fifteen years, many fynbos species are now flourishing at Princess Vlei,” said Ms Pitt, “The Princess Vlei Forum would like to thank the City of Cape Town for their support through the Grant-in-Aid fund.”