RESTORING ONE OF GEORGETOWN’S ENDURING LANDMARKS

Apr 10, 2016 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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A total rehabilitation of the Botanical Gardens at Regent and Vlissengen Roads will begin soon.  It is being restored, re-stocked with some of the indigenous wildlife that brought Guyana fame and recognition many moons ago.  It will receive more than a facelift and some polish.
This rehabilitation programme received commendable support from the US Oil and Gas exploration and extraction giant, ExxonMobil.  This company made a sizeable donation to the National Protected Areas Commission. Erik Oswald, Vice President for Exploration – Americas ExxonMobil Exploration Company, recently presented his company’s donation of $20M to Minister of Natural Resources, Hon. Raphael Trotman, in the presence of Commissioner of Protected Areas, Damian Fernandes.
Minister Trotman remarked, “It’s a wonderful park and we look forward to it being renovated. We’re also very happy that there’s an educational component to (ExxonMobil’s) donation – that children will be able to come and learn more about the wildlife that inhabit Guyana”.
The long awaited rehabilitation of the Botanical Gardens is extensive.  Some of the new features to be added are:-
·    A decorative working waterfall to be placed at the entrance, which will represent Guyana’s many rivers and waterfalls
·    The currently silted up Victoria Regia water lily pond will be desilted, widened and properly landscaped to show to visitors the beauty of this aquatic flower that (it is believed) was named for Queen Victoria by a British Botanist during the 18th Century.  This flower is a member of the rare Victoria Amazonica species, and was named Guyana’s national flower at Independence in 1966.
·    Outdoor lights will be installed along the access road beyond the entry gates to the Gardens and into a new Parking Lot.  This new feature will enable the Gardens’ management to extend visitor hours beyond sundown or 6.00 pm.  It is also anticipated that receptions would be hosted there in the evening time as there will be additional security features added to the lighting plan.
·    Botanical labeling and signage will feature a full catalog of plants, flowers, trees on land and vegetation in the ponds.  Specialized labels will also be mounted on tree/plant specimens that will help to guide visitors, students, researchers and others along the “plant walks” that will be installed around the gardens.
The Botanical Gardens is supposed to house the most extensive collection of tropical flora in the Caribbean, and it will when the refurbishment of all facilities including ponds, canals, the kissing bridges and bandstand is complete.
A BRIEF HISTORY
The Botanical Gardens, one of the few recreation parks/green spaces in the city of Georgetown, is now about 137 years old.  Historical records show that the decision to lay out this huge tract of land to establish a viewing Garden was the outcome of a resolution by the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society (RACS).  A meeting was held on April 3, 1877 and the committee members were convinced that great benefits would be derived.  These men were J. Hampden King, Henry Watson, Henry Kirke, W.H. Campbell and R.W. Imlach.
Their petition to the Governor was favourably received then the sitting Attorney General along with Messrs. Robert Smith and William Russell were appointed to choose a site.  After much discussion, they agreed to site the ‘gardens’ in the backlands of Plantation Vlissengen on a parcel of land measuring 185 acres.
The following year, a Botanist and landscaper, Mr. Prestoe came from the Trinidad Gardens Society specifically to examine the chosen site and to prepare the ground plan.  In 1879, Mr. J. S. Waby of the same organization began the first landscaping of the swampy pastureland.
Trenches had to be dug, roads had to be constructed, propagating sheds had to be erected and the level of the land was raised in the same way that the new Jubilee Park was – by dumping silt and mud from all digging works that included canals and lakes. The front of the Gardens was tile-trained.
Preliminary work was completed and attention turned to selecting and nurturing the seedlings.  Among the first seedlings to be planted by J. S. Waby were a collection of Samaan trees.  Some were planted along the northern side of the gardens for some distance up Vlissengen Road.
The first caretaker, certified Botanist George Samuel Jenman, arrived in 1880 and was appointed Superintendent of the Botanical Gardens.  Under his meticulous care and diligence, the garden flourished and today there is still tangible recognition of the splendid work he did.  A clock installed in the Botanical Garden’s Office (formerly the Curator’s Office) still bears his name,
After his demise in 1902, drainage was improved; the famous arched Victorian-styled ‘Kissing Bridge’ was constructed and a wrought iron and mortar Bandstand erected.  Over the years, decades, centuries, the Botanical Gardens were continually beautified, re-planted with decorative flowering plants and ornamental shrubs that added a blaze of colour to the green environment.
The first attempt to establish a Zoo dates back to 1880.  The members of the RACS were at the time strongly opposed to the idea.  More than 50 years passed before it was discussed again, and in 1952, the Zoological Park was finally declared open.
The Guyana Zoo is located within the precincts of the Botanical Gardens and for many decades had exhibited a wide variety of the world’s most impressive species of indigenous flora and fauna, some taken from the large, pristine, virgin rainforests of British Guiana then Guyana.  Even before the zoo was opened, in fact from the early days of the Botanical Gardens, around 1895, manatees lived in the ponds of the Botanical Gardens. Two large Harpy eagles also took up permanent residence there.
In April 1988, the Ministry of Agriculture relinquished responsibility for the Botanical Gardens, handing it over the National Parks Commission under the Chairmanship of Bunny Fernandes A.A.  He ran a tight green ship until he retired 1993.
(Courtesy of the Evergreen Nature Study Club: www.evergreenstudy.org)

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