‘Princess Vlei… You are not alone any more … we are here to inspire the next generation to love you as we do’
These words were said by Hafzah Mahmoud from Lotus High, reading her poem at the Princess Vlei Forum’s Fynbos Fantasia celebration on Saturday 25 October.
    On Saturday 25 October, over 170 young people from local primary and high schools, and some from further afield, came to celebrate our rich floral diversity. Thanks to restoration efforts for the past fifteen years, many fynbos species are now flourishing at Princess Vlei. 

   The day marked the highpoint of the Fynbos Fantasia  project to open the minds of young people to the variety and beauty of Cape Town’s fynbos, the interaction of plants and pollinating insects, birds and other animals, and its historical cultural and spiritual significance. 
   For over two months, learners have been interacting with the fynbos at Princess Vlei in different ways, and have been hard at work preparing for this celebration by writing poems, preparing dances, and painting t-shirts featuring local fynbos flowers and pollinators. Crestway learners took it to a new level by turning themselves into Plant People, wearing  flower headdresses featuring giant versions of plants such as proteas, rain daisies, pincushions, bietou and Wilde dagga. 

The group gathered at Retreat civic for face painting and to make fynbos inspired headdresses. They watched the dances created by four primary schools (Rosmead, Levana, Hillwood and Floreat) and heard the poems written and read by Lotus High learners Tracy Daniels, Paige Eden, and Hafzah Mahmoud.  They also watched a performance of Hoerikwaggo, a story of Table Mountain’s baboons returning a lost baby to its parents. 
    Then it was time for the parade, as learners poured out onto the streets of Sassmere Estate, with their colourful t-shirts, headdresses, fynbos hats and bird puppets made by previous groups of learners. Drummers trained by the Jungle Theatre Company kept time. 

The procession wound its way to Princess Vlei, and along the edge of the Vlei on the newly constructed walkway. At the waters edge, Shihaam Domingo saluted the Princess of Princess Vlei and led learners in a traditional Khoe song to honour women. 
      The learners from the different schools pledged 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 by we need nature so we’d better start treating it with respect’  warned a learner from Crestway High.
      Floreat learners reminded all present of the medicinal benefits of many plants such  buchu, Kankerbos, honeybos, Cape May, Aloe, Rooibos. Hillwood learners said, ‘Nature feeds us thats why we have to take care of the world.’
      Levana learners pledged to ‘protect and preserve Princess Vlei, to honour its natural beauty, safeguard its wildlife, and ensure it remains a sanctuary for future generations. Through care and respect and sustainable practices we commit to maturing the vital eco system.’
     The Princess Vlei Forum would like to thank the City of Cape Town for their support for the project through the Grant in Aid fund; the fabulous dance and drumming  instructors, all the many volunteers who helped us, and the learners who came to truly celebrate Princess Vlei and our fynbos heritage.

The workshops began at Lotus High School on 10 September, where learners studied plants in  the rich ingenious garden and nursery at the school, established by science teacher Shafiek Isaacs.
They learned how to identify plants with healing properties as well as edible plants. They were taught about the value of indigenous and traditional knowledge and how their gardening supports the preservation of plant knowledge and therefore helps to protect indigenous vegetation. Shihaam prepared wild rooibos tea with honey for the learners and gave them sprigs of indigenous teas to try at home with their families. 
         The learners were gifted notebooks from the poet Barbara Boswell, who would be helping them write poetry at the second session at Princess Vlei. They wrote their thoughts and feelings as they moved through activities to generate material for their poems.
      On the 12th September learners were treated to roosterkoek and homemade jams prepared by Shihaam on the fire at the Princess Vlei braai areas. She infused these treats with indigenous plants so that learners could experience the taste of the edible species that they were learning about.

Learners shared their writing and walked with Shihaam through the fynbos to learn about species like the wild rosemary and skilpad Bessie. Wilde dagga, wilde knoffel, wild rosmary, wild rooibos, bruin salie, skilpadbessie, tabak bos and malva. Shihaam stressed the importance of respecting the plants. 
     Speaking about the tabak bos, she said this sacred plant has been used by women for meditation and reflection. ‘It’s important not to abuse it for just any reason. Remember, a plant has an intention, so our interaction with it is also intentional …’ 
     Learners were also taught about the indigenous khoe princess who gave the vlei its name and asked to write about her relationship with plants and the vlei. Barbara Boswell hosted a session on poetry writing. Learners were taught to free write, then to weave elements of their free writing into a poem to express  their feelings about plants and the vlei.
    In the third session, held at the school, Shihaam told learners about the role of plants in ceremony and how diverse groups of people including the khoe and descendants of the Khoe continue to work with plants to bring healing and restoration to land and their communities. Learners were invited to wash their hands in a water with indigenous herbs and were taught about the cleansing and healing properties of water combined with  healing plants.  Shihaam also provided a plant based balm that she’d made. She explained that all the ingredients in the balm came from custodians who harvest at the right time in the plant’s natural environment,  which boosts the healing properties of the balm.

     In the final session, learners again met at the Vlei and enjoyed rosterkoek and tea made with fynbos plants. Vlei. Learners were invited to share their poetry in a circle and took turns to recite what they had prepared. Shihaam encouraged them to continue working on their poetry and journaling as part of the process. Those who were comfortable enough to share to poems performed their poetry at the Fynbos Fantasia celebration on 25 October. 
     These workshops gave learners a opportunity to engage deeply, using all their senses, with the plants at Princess Vlei; to enrich their understanding of the cultural heritage of these plants, and their relations with pollinators, air, water and people; and to express their reflections an this through poetry

• Thanks to Shihaam Domingo, Barbara  Boswell, Lotus High teachers and learners, and to the City Grant in Aid for funding this project.