Skeleton Gorge Waterfall

This guide to Skeleton Gorge Waterfall in Cape Town starts with the red disa, a scarlet orchid growing straight out of the spray where the stream drops through the gorge, named by the Swedish botanist Peter Bergius in 1767 after a legendary queen. It follows the puzzle the flower posed for over a century: an intense red bloom with almost no scent, a combination that should keep most pollinating insects away. You'll hear about the botanist Rudolf Marloth's seasons of watching at streams like this one, and the Victorian collectors who once stripped these slopes bare. Look for the scarlet blooms clinging to the wet rock in high summer.