South Africa’s National Botanical Gardens promote themselves as “havens of biodiversity.” The Pretoria National Botanical Garden (NBG – not to be confused with “No Bloody Good”!) has for some time featured Sunday afternoon concerts, and this past Sunday was no exception, although the concerts are usually held in the Winter months, yesterday’s concert being by way of an experiment to test public support for a concert during the Festive Season.

Judging by the response of the public, there will be more of these.

The concert series features classical, local jazz and pop music. Yesterday’s concert upheld diversity, not of the botanical sort, but of the musical variety.

The first offering was of a choir from Mofolo, Soweto, called the Rock of Ages Choir. This choir is made up of mostly unemployed people from Soweto who love to sing and, in their PRO’s words, “Praise the Lord in song.” The choir sang some traditional African songs with vigour and enthusiasm.

Next up was the National Ceremonial Guard Band, under the leadership of Major Strugnell and Captain Titus. This band provides the musical soundtrack to the South African President’s public life.

It turned in a polished and enjoyable programme from Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival” to “Abba on Broadway” with some excursions to big band nostalgia and Frank Sinatra favourites (“My Way” was obviously there, ably sung by Captain Titus) along the way.

The audience was enthusiastic, especially the younger members, who danced and played very happily to the accompaniment of the big band.

The Gardens themselves are a delightful place, with some 40 grass species among the more than 230 species of flowering plants so far recorded in the Gardens.

Interest is also heightened by the more than 220 bird species listed for the Gardens, including some of the more colourful South African birds like the various kingfishers, barbets, orioles and a number of raptors.

The Pretortia NBG was founded in 1946 and comprises some 76 hectares, divided by a rocky ridge into a warm north-facing section and a cooler south-facing section, thereby offering extra diversity to plant and animal lovers.

The Pretoria NBG falls under the umbrella of the South African  National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) which was formed in 2004. On the importance of biodiversity to South Africa the SANBI website (http://www.sanbi.org/aboutbiodiversity.htm) states: “South Africa is diverse not simply in terms of our people and culture, but also in terms of our biological resources and ecology. In fact, South Africa is the third most biologically diverse country in the world, after Indonesia and Brazil. South Africa occupies about 2% of the world's land area, but is home to nearly 10% of the world's plants and 7% of the reptiles, birds and mammals. We have three globally recognised biodiversity hotspots: the Cape Floristic Region, which falls entirely within our boundaries; the Succulent Karoo, shared with our neighbour Namibia; and Maputaland- Pondoland, shared with Mozambique and Swaziland. Our seas straddle three oceans, the Atlantic, the Indian and the Southern Ocean, and include an exceptional range of habitats, from cool-water kelp forests to tropical reefs. The southern African coast is home to almost 15% of known coastal marine species, providing a rich source of nutrition and supporting livelihoods of coastal communities.”