Mont Fleuri Botanical Gardens
The Mont Fleuri Botanical Gardens Seychelles (also called Victoria Botanical Gardens ) is a botanical garden in the Seychelles capital Victoria in the Mont Fleuri district . The garden complex, founded in 1901 and covering around six hectares, is the only one of its kind in the island state and a tourist attraction. The Botanical Garden is subordinate to the Ministry of the Environment, which is also based there.
history
The decision to establish a botanical garden in the Seychelles was made by the archipelago administration on March 3, 1900. It was hoped that this would support farmers in their work and encourage them to grow new crops. The background was the dependence of the Seychelles economy on vanilla cultivation and coconut products . The botanical garden was thus in the tradition of the "Jardin du Roi" which had already been laid out in another place in the south of Mahé during the French rule and had pursued similar goals. The Mauritius- born botanist and agricultural expert Paul Evenor Rivalz Dupont was entrusted with the execution and management of the garden . After being appointed curator of the Botanical Garden, Dupont began laying out the garden on February 4, 1901 with six workers. Dupont was also the curator of the crown land and responsible for the Seychelles palm forests on Praslin and Curieuse . From his numerous travels he brought a large number of tropical plants from all over the world to the Seychelles, which today form the basis of the garden's biodiversity. In 1935 Dupont returned to Mauritius, where he died on January 20, 1938 at the age of 67. In 1956 the British royal couple visited the Seychelles. On the occasion of this visit, Prince Phillip planted a Seychelles palm, which is one of the few to bear fruit outside of its natural range. After the independence of the Seychelles, the organization of the park management developed into today's Ministry of the Environment, which is also located on the edge of the site. Originally designed as a botanical station, the garden is now one of the most important tourist attractions as a park on the island of Mahé. The original task of species protection has now been expanded to include training in landscape planning, environmental protection and ecotourism .
Division of the park and attractions
The park is located at the foot of the eponymous Mont Fleuri, an approximately 150 m high mountain. The entrance to the park is on Mon Fleuri Road at a height of about 8 m above sea level. The highest points of the approximately six hectare park are at a height of around 100 m. The garden stretches in a width of around 120 m along a central road about half a kilometer along Mont Fleuri. There are 33 species of palm trees, all six of which are indigenous. In addition, the garden is home to 66 types of trees and three types of screw trees . Aldabra giant tortoises and Seychelles fruit bats ( Pteropus seychellensis ) are kept on native animals . In the upper part of the garden there is one of the last original primeval forests in the Seychelles in a forest area.
literature
- Brochure from the Mont Fleuri Botanical Gardens Seychelles
Web links
- The Botanical Gardens site of the Department of Environment
Individual evidence
- ^ William McAteer: Hard Times in Paradise . Pristine, Mahé 2000. ISBN 978-99931-809-1-3 . P. 180
Coordinates: 4 ° 37 ′ 48.7 ″ S , 55 ° 27 ′ 20.7 ″ E