By Molly Fitz-Patrick, Wessa Western Cape
Our gorgeous national flower, the king protea, is all around us. Aside from being fortunate to see them in their natural environment or in a bouquet at your local florist, their image is ubiquitous: in artwork, street names, local businesses, and on our cricket team.
In fact, we are so familiar with these flowers that we tend to overlook the value of proteas and their fynbos family. The Cape Town-based wildlife non-profit organisation FynbosLIFE is dedicated to protecting the region’s fynbos and rich biodiversity.
The organisation is set to launch its inaugural FynbosLIFE Fair on Sunday, October 9, at the Zandvlei Lookout in Lakeside. From 10am to 4pm, the day is packed with fynbos-inspired festivities and, fittingly, coincides with South Africa’s Garden Day.
While fynbos is ever-popular, its home, the Cape Floral Kingdom, is the smallest, richest and most threatened of the world’s six floral kingdoms. FynbosLIFE founding director and event co-organiser Caitlin von Witt said Cape Town was “considered both the biodiversity and extinction capital of the world”.
She said fynbos “needs our support and protection for future generations”. Fortunately, more Cape residents are converting their gardens and parks to fynbos wildlife refuges, a move that supports local biodiversity while being cost-effective and educational.
Event co-organiser Genie Vittu planned the packed programme to reflect the diversity of the Cape Floral Region, which is comprised of 13 protected areas in the Western and Eastern Cape. Visitors can expect foraged fynbos feasts, fynbos-inspired cocktail/mocktail creations, art and homeware.
The retail outlet of FynbosLIFE’s Cape Flats Fynbos Nursery will be open all day for sales of Cape Town lowland fynbos plants and flower crown creations.
In addition, there will be entertainment and activities on offer, including two film screenings. The first, “Ours Not Mine”, a film on Namaqualand, was directed by Bryan Little and produced by Ana-Filipa Domingues. The second is the acclaimed “Ghosts of Table Mountain”, about the critically endangered Table Mountain ghost frog.
Performances by Wren Hinds, Soulitude and Friends with Mariana del Carmen, Keshia Lee and Marco will provide the fair’s soundtrack. RasMalawi will perform his fynbos song, written for the FynbosLIFE Fair. The performances span the genres of jazz, funk, storytelling, rhythm, reggae, soul and poetry.
Visitors are encouraged to bring their children. The FUNBOS play area includes an art extravaganza led by FundaFynbos and KuruFynbos artists and a performance by The Jungle Theatre.
Included in the line-up are 30-minute talks on fynbos in all its forms, covering topics such as fynbos freshwater conservation and fynbos-derived food and medicine.
To raise funds to protect and restore Cape Town’s threatened lowland fynbos, several organisations have donated items for the FynbosLIFE Fair raffle. One of the raffle prizes is a two-day stay for two in a self-catering fynbos suite at Farm 215, a luxury boutique guest farm. If you would like to support the fair by donating to the raffle, please contact [email protected].
The fair promises fynbos magic at its best. Celebrate South Africa’s biodiversity, join the conservation community, meet like-minded fynbos fanatics and take the opportunity to network, because as Von Witt says, “networking for fynbos strengthens our ability to take conservation action”.
For more information visit the FynbosLIFE website fynboslife.com or @fynboslife on social media to support and tag #fynboslifefair.