Who would ever be interested in travelling to another country to view a Botanical Garden? Well, you would be surprised. Botanical gardens are far more than oversized lawns, they are actually microcosms of an entire country. South Africa is a country overwhelmingly blessed in terms of bio-diversity, and have no less than 9 botanical gardens - one of which is in Mpumalanga. Just for purposes of comparison, the whole of Europe has about 2 000 plant species. There are 7 000 in Kirstenbosch alone, and about 18 000 in the whole country.
The South African National Biodiversity Institute manages all nine of our Botanical Gardens. The Lowveld Garden contains two rivers, the Crocodile and the Nels, which makes it wet and wild. The Lowveld flora are quite spectacular and very different to everything else, with an African rain forest, a suspended bridge over a waterfall, cycads, fig trees and baobabs.
Click here to find out more about the Loveld National Botanical Garden, or visit www.sanbi.org
