Tranquillity and bliss is a real walk in the park

IT’S TAKEN a while, but I’ve finally begun visiting Green Point Urban Park. It’s a wonderful open space in the middle of our city, but I can’t really say it’s one of my favourite places.

This might be because I don’t have a dog to walk, or a pram to push, but even though it doesn’t hold immense personal appeal for me, I can appreciate its value.

The extensive lawns are great for picnics, but there is a lack of shade and not too many benches where you can sit comfortably to read a book or, well, just sit. There are playgrounds for children of different ages, but though the equipment is sturdy, the security guards will chase adults off it, even at 7.30am when there are no children in sight.

Yes, this really happened. The official woman got very cross with us, and said we should go over to the circuit gym, which is for grown-ups. This part is quite cool, especially if you hate going to the real gym which always seems to be full of fitness freaks who appear not to need it. Plus it’s more fun to exercise in the open air surrounded by hadedas and Egyptian geese. After we had been hounded off the swings, another security guard followed us around the park for quite a while to make sure we didn’t break any more rules, which was actually a bit creepy.

The next time I went, I did the VoiceMap guided walk, which was more pleasant.

It was a cool, cloudy morning after some decent rain so everything smelled lovely and fresh. It’s a fairly short walk, lasting about half an hour without stops, and includes the biodiversity showcase garden which has three themed areas: People and Plants, Discover Biodiversity and a Wetland Walk.

There are more than 300 species in the garden and more than 25 000 indigenous, water-wise plants. Water from the Oranjezicht springs has been used to develop a wetlands landscape which not only captures and manages water quality and flows using reed beds and vegetation, but also provides habitats for small frogs and insects.

The walk takes you out of the park to have a look at the Green Point Lighthouse in Mouille Point, and on this block there are a couple of places to stop for a meal or a beverage.

Inside the park there is a building which the commentary promises will one day be a tearoom. Since it’s clear the commentary was recorded some time ago, I wonder whatever happened to that plan.

VoiceMap has a newish feature which allows first time users to get a free tour when they download the app. See https://voicemap.me/ share/bianca to redeem yours – just click through from that link and follow the prompts.

● The park is open daily from sunrise till sunset. See www.cape town.gov.za/en/CapeTownStadium3 /Pages/Greenpoint-park.aspx