Thai Garden to be revamped |31 March 2023
The Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority (SPGA) has received $2887.67 from the Kingdom of Thailand which will be used to embellish the Thai Garden in the National Botanical Garden at Mont Fleuri.
The money was handed over by the ambassador of Thailand to Seychelles, Sasirit Tangulrat, to the principal secretary for Climate Change and Energy, within the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Tony Imaduwa, in a short ceremony held at the garden yesterday afternoon.
Present were the chairman of SPGA board, Lucas D’Offay, the deputy chief executive, Lya Docteur, other SPGA staff members and representatives of the Thai delegation and Thai consulate in the country.
Ambassador Tangulrat, who is based in Nairobi, Kenya, said that she visited the garden two years ago and its time now for the garden to be renovated for which the Royal Thai government is happy to make the contribution.
She said that the garden is very beautiful but further embellishment with more Thai flowers and other unique plants will make it even more beautiful.
PS Imaduwa, who thanked the Thai Royal government for the donation, said that the gesture clearly shows and marks the good relation that is still ongoing between our country and the Kingdom of Thailand.
The Thai garden was inaugurated in 2014 as part of activities to commemorate diplomatic relations since 1988 between Thailand and Seychelles. It consists of exotic and endemic plants and from the South East Asian island such as kitchen mint, hairy basil, sweet basil, windbetalleafbash, lime and common lime, Indian borage, among many others. To complement the garden, a propagation and tissue culture laboratory was also set up.
The garden though has been faced with many acts of vandalism where many among the flora, spices, medicinal and other plants, including all of the orchids that were introduced, have been stolen.
Speaking to the press Mr D’Offay said that they will be looking to renovate and re embellish the garden with new plants from the island including the re-introduction of the orchids which were such an attraction to visitors.
He added that SPGA is also in discussion with both authorities to put in place a Thai Pavilion in the garden as further attraction and that it also has plans to prevent vandalism in the Botanical Garden.
Prior to making the visit to the Thai Garden and to make the donation, Ambassador Tangulrat also made a short visit to the tortoise pen and other parts of the Botanical Garden close by.
The accompanying photos show some highlights of the Thai delegation’s visit to the Botanical Garden.
Text & photos by Patrick Joubert
