The National Botanical Garden is a park located along the

Notwane River The Notwane River (or Ngotwane River) is a river in southeastern Botswana. Certain sections of its course form the international boundary with South Africa. Its mouth is at the head of the Limpopo River. It has a catchment area of 18,053 square k ...

south-east of the city center of

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

. The National Botanical Garden first opened on 2 November 2007 with the purpose of protecting Botswana's heritage. The park is managed under the Natural History Division of the

Botswana National Museum The Botswana National Museum, also known as the National Museum and Art Gallery, is located in the Botswana capital of Gaborone and is a multi-disciplinary institution that includes the National Art Gallery and Octagon Gallery, as well as—sin ...

. It is the first

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

, housing indigenous plants from around Botswana.

Layout

The garden is composed of six sections corresponding to six different ecological regions in Botswana. The six regions and common plants found in that region are *Chobe – Moporota (Sausage Tree) and Mukusi (Pod Mahogany) *Okavango And Salt Pans – Tsaro (Wild Date Palm) and Mokolwane (Ilala Palm) *Mophane Woodland – Mophane and Monepenepe (Long-tail Cassia) *North-Eastern Kalahari – Mokgwapha (Mountain Aloe) and Mosunyana (Umbrella Thorn) *Mashatu – Motha (Nyala Tree) and More-o-mosetlha (Fever Tree) *South Western Kalahari –

Hoodia ''Hoodia'' (; known locally as "ghaap" or "bobbejaanghaap") is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, under the subfamily Asclepiadoideae, native to Southern Africa. One species of ''Hoodia'' in particular, ''Hoodia gordonii'', ...

and grasses In addition to displaying indigenous plants, the park also is in charge of maintaining botanical monuments around the country like the morula tree in

under which the first meeting of the

Botswana Democratic Party The Botswana Democratic Party (abbr. BDP) is the governing party in Botswana. Its chairman is the Vice-President of Botswana, Slumber Tsogwane, and its symbol is a lift jack. The party has ruled Botswana continuously since gaining independence ...

was held.

Gallery

File:3 Botswana Botanical Gardens Gaborone.jpg File:3 Botswana National Botanical Gardens 2.jpg File:3 monument of standing stones - Botswana Bot Gardens 1.jpg File:Orchid - Botswana National Bot Gardens 1.jpg File:Path in National Botanical Gardens Botswana 4.jpg File:8 National Botanical Garden of Botswana.jpg File:9 Euphorbia - Botswana Bot Gardens.jpg File:Monkeys -National Botanical Garden of Botswana 1.jpg

References

{{Authority control Botanical gardens in Botswana Parks in Gaborone