Le Jardin du Roi gets enhanced facilities |23 May 2015

Le Jardin du Roi spice and endemic garden has now some enhanced facilities including its own museum - an area dedicated to the history of spices in Seychelles since the 18th century.

This project has been made possible due to the collaboration with the Plant Conservation Action Group (PCA) and through the funding of Government of Seychelles, GEF and UNDP Mainstreaming Biodiversity Project for joint Environmenal NGO / Tourism establishment projects involving conservation and biodiversity.  

The new enhanced facilities were launched on Thursday by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Didier Dogley.

Located on a hilly area above the Anse Royale beach, Le Jardin du Roi houses close to a hundred types of endemic plants and spices.
 
The launch of these facilities is the culmination of a year-long collaborative project between the PCA and Le Jardin du Roi entitled ‘Improving Forest Native Biodiversity and Visitor Experience at Jardin du Roi’ with the funding of US $40,000.

The main aim of the project is to increase forest native biodiversity in the nature trail area of forest at the site (approx. 2 hectares) and also to train the garden’s staff in rehabilitation methods.

“Around 2500 native seedlings suitable for forest at this altitude have been raised to increase the native species diversity in the forest: currently the main native plants are Takamaka and three species of endemic palms, mostly as juveniles and seedlings, which now have the light and space to grow well. Most of the native seedlings in the nursery were planted during the rainy season. To improve visitor experience at the site, the forest nature trail path has been upgraded in an environmentally friendly way, and a certain section of the main garden path has been laid with concrete to make it easier for visitors to access,” noted Katy Beaver from PCA. The staff from the Seychelles National Park and volunteers also contributed to enhance the area.

Bernard Georges expressed his gratitude to all those who out of love for nature contributed in enhancing the area. “As a friend of mine said, Jardin du Roi is an example of labour of love. We are privileged to be the custodians of this little piece of heaven but we are more than happy to share it with the world. We were planning to do all the changes, but never got to do it and it is thanks to PCA, the government, GEF and UNDP and our staff that today we have an enhanced garden. We aim to be among the great botanical gardens in the country,” he said.  

Minister Dogley was just so elated to be in his element again. “Before becoming a minister, I used to work a lot with plants and today I am happy to see the wedding of cultural heritage to environmental heritage. The Biodiversity Day is celebrated on May 22 and this is an excellent example of how we can do conservation in areas where people live. Usually conservation is done in priority areas, but plants and animals do understand our limitations. Now we have good examples that mainstreaming is working well in Seychelles and we should continue,” said the minister.

Le Jardin du Roi is privately owned by the Georges family and run by Micheline Georges and is open seven days with an entrance fee of R110 per person with children below seven years having free entrance. Laura, the vibrant parrot, is there to welcome you all at the entrance.