Karoo Desert NBG celebrates 90 years

The 8th of December 2011 was an exciting day for Karoo Desert NBG, which celebrated its 90th birthday. Werner Voigt, the curator of the Garden, welcomed the guests and took them on a stroll around the garden. Christopher Willis, Chief Director: Conservation, Gardens and Tourism at SANBI gave a word of thanks, recounted a brief history of the Garden and launched the bird activity booklet.

History of the Garden

The Garden started in 1921 at Whitehill near the railway station at Matjiesfontein. Due to the reconstruction of the national road in the 1940's and the war it was decided to move the Garden to Worcester in 1945. The land was donated by the municipality and Charles Heathlie.

The Garden officially opened on 5 September 1948 in Worcester. The Garden is the second oldest national botanical garden at SANBI, after Kirstenbosch, and was established to grow and conserve plants of the arid regions of southern Africa.

Read more about the History of the Karoo Desert NBG

Activity booklet about birds

The Desert Birds Trail opened last year in December and this year the bird activity booklet was launched at the celebrations. The booklet was developed for Grade 6 school groups to broaden their knowledge of birds and to further instill a love for nature. The printing of the booklets was done with generous funding received from the Roland & Leta Hill Trust. The event was held in the Kokerboom Restaurant which has just reopened.