Our trip to the Cape was more time-constrained than we would have liked so it meant we had to make the most of every moment. One of the places we had to go was Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. As students, this had always been a favourite and economical day out and a place we would always take visitors, so after arriving in Cape Town we headed there despite only having a couple of hours of light left in the day. It had been planned as a scouting trip but ended up being very productive which was just as well as an issue with our rental vehicle meant that plans had to change and our planned return visit didn’t happen.

Orange-breasted Sunbirds were what we were hoping to photograph and just after entering the garden we found directions to an area of flowering Ericas that were attracting them and after a brisk uphill walk Edin and I were set up with long lenses on monopods waiting for the birds to co-operate with perches, backgrounds and light. The density of the plants and rapid movements of the birds make this challenging but we managed some decent pictures and had a great time. A large group of German tourists moved past quite quickly so the congestion was brief and we were later joined by a friendly Dutch photographer who had, like us, arrived in Cape Town that day. We had moments of direct sunlight but mostly we had lovely diffused light with the sun setting behind cloud over Table Mountain. Hope you enjoy the photos.