Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden

The Witpoortjie waterfall drops about seventy metres over a quartzite cliff at the head of this garden, and the cliff beside it holds the reason many people come: a pair of Verreaux's eagles, large black raptors that specialise in hyrax, have nested there for decades, and their nest is visible from the garden paths. They are among the most watched eagles in the world - the pair has been monitored continuously since the 1980s and their breeding is followed closely by birders. The garden itself covers about 300 hectares, mostly natural highveld and riverine vegetation with a smaller cultivated section of succulents, cycads and water plants. There are easy paths, lawns used for Sunday concerts, and a longer trail along the Crocodile River gorge. It is a city garden with a genuine cliff and river running through it.

What you actually see

• The nesting eagles - Verreaux's eagles on the cliff, monitored continuously since the 1980s.
• The Witpoortjie fall - a seventy-metre drop over quartzite at the head of the garden.
• The natural majority - most of the 300 hectares left as highveld and riverine veld.
• The Sunday concerts - lawn events that fill the garden on summer weekends.

When to go

September to April; eagle breeding runs through winter into spring. Two to three hours.

Honest expectations

Concert Sundays are extremely busy and parking overflows. The waterfall shrinks in the dry winter months. Eagles are wild birds - visible often, guaranteed never. Paths beyond the cultivated area are rocky.

Nearby

The Cradle of Humankind is north-west; Johannesburg is east.