If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain ... then you would have enjoyed Flow Cape Town’s recent outing to Kirstenbosch. Except that there were no pina coladas.
Last week saw the Mother City’s Flowstars head to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden for a combined celebration of goodbyes, happy birthdays and congratulations. Cape Town manager Roy Barford departs on exciting new business ventures for the company; Riefkah Adams, who has been an intern in the Cape Town office since January (and also got married this weekend), moves to Flowburg to become a fully-fledged Flowstar; and Marin Gorrie celebrated her birthday during the week.
That was reason enough to go and check out Kirstenbosch's new attraction: the Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway, informally referred to as the Boomslang (tree snake). It's an amazing feat of engineering, and its built-in flexibility allows it to sway from side to side as you walk along. While this was disconcerting to some at first, it does add a certain adrenaline rush to the otherwise peaceful experience of traversing the treetops. The views of Cape Town are impressive, and the chance to learn about how the different levels (canopy, middlestory and forest floor) of the trees support different kinds of life makes the trip well worth it.
The team barely had a moment to take an all important selfie before the heavens opened. But the rain couldn't dampen our spirits and instead of pina coladas, we did have champagne! The Tea Room Restaurant offered a welcome reprieve from the weather and speeches, gifts and shouts of "cheers" were exchanged there while we dried off.
"I don't think that Riefkah quite expected such a literal 'bridal shower' as shortly after we all posed for the picture on the Boomslang the heavens opened and we had to make a quick dash for the tearoom. Even though we all got a little damp, it was a lot of fun," said Flowstar Andrea Weiss about the day.
