Fynbos Fantasia on Parade

‘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.