Belize Botanic Gardens

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:23:03 GMT

Belize is a country rich in natural diversity. Belize Botanic Gardens celebrates and protects this natural heritage.

Our mission is to grow, study, protect and promote tropical flora, especially our native species; to provide information for our community, science, government and industry and to do this in an educationally useful setting,

Come and see how our collections, location, and local knowledge make us an ideal location for researchers, teachers, students and tourists.

Check out our News to see what's been going on lately.

We are a botanic garden, Belize Botanic Gardens or BBG to be exact. BBG is 45 acres of native and exotic plants growing in the Cayo district of western Belize. The garden is in a valley on the banks of the Macal River, surrounded by the Maya Mountain foothills.

Modestly speaking we offer you beautiful plants in a beautiful place, but we're oh! so much more. Our main work is encouraging sustainable agriculture, maintaining conservation collections and engaging in conservation education. What that boils down to is that we aim to inspire our community and visitors (this could be you!) to protect our leafy friends and their habitats by learning more about the wonderful world of plants.

To do all this we have a mere 8 full time employees. That means each of us has about 10 jobs, (sometimes eleven). It's a lot of work but it is worthwhile.

Ken and Judy duPlooy began living in Belize in 1989. The land they purchased had been cleared by the previous owners for farming and it required some sprucing up. So, Ken began planting this and that to put some colour around place. He was 47 when he began this dabbling in landscaping, before which he had only ever managed to raise a rubber tree plant and five daughters. Since 5 out of 6 talked back he didn't think he'd spend more than a few months on the project. But...

Anyone familiar with gardening in the tropics knows that the growth rate of tropical plants can be quite stimulating to the novice. Ken was no exception. Heady with the variety of the flora and the fact that it grew by leaps and bounds, Ken was soon transformed into an amateur botanist.

His opportunity to really go wild was in 1994 when he and Judy were able to purchase the farm adjoining their property on the Macal River. This land had also been bulldozed for farming and the duPlooy's wanted to 're green' the area and encourage birds and wildlife to return.

Ken wasted no time in turning the vegetative wasteland into a giant field covered with sticks holding up horse feed sacks. His family was furious until they discovered that under each sack was a young plant of some sort being protected from the sunshine until ready for exposure to the elements. There was a combination of plants for plants sake and tropical fruit Ken thought could be economically important for Belize.

Once uncovered the size and scope of the collection began to attract attention from plant enthusiasts, farmers, scientists, botanic gardens and related organizations. The support and encouragement Judy and Ken received helped them decide it was time that the eclectic collection become something more. Ken kept busy covering every square inch of space with new plants while Judy began to gather the resources and information needed to make the transformation to a botanic gardens.Together they officially registered Belize Botanic Gardens in 1997.

If you want to know what happened after that...come see for yourself.

Grans Farm

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:23:03 GMT

Gran's Farm primary focus is guided tours of our tropical fruit orchard, our botanical garden and our lowland rainforest immediately behind us. We provide nature trails for hiking through the wooded area of our farm. We also provide for canoeing downstream the Hector Creek to our facilities.

Gran's farm, uniquely located only 14 1/4 miles from Belize City on the Western Highway, is an eco-agro-tourism based daytime establishment. It offers a wide variety of entertainment to tourist and locals alike such as, Canoeing, Nature Trail Tour, Tropical Fruit Orchard Tour, Botanical Garden, Swimming Pool access providing night time activities when requested. Driving time is less than 20 minutes.

Gran's Farm is a pleasant, tranquil country environment with a party mood. Its close proximity to Belize City, the International Airport, the onsite facilities and amenities creates an appropriate setting for a comfortable and enjoyable daytime visit whilst in Belize.

ON SITE
- The Kitchen/ Restaurant provides visitors with the perfect place to experience local Belizean cuisine along with fruits, preserves, desserts, pastries, ice cream, juices, and other farm related eatery made from freshly picked farm fruits.
- The Bars, located beside the Restaurant and beside the pool, provides visitors with the ideal place to experience the taste of Gran's Farm very own tropical fruit wines. The Bars also serves a wide variety of drinks mixed from local Belizean made liquors and others.
- The Gift Shop offers guest great Belizean souvenir that will forever etch in their memory the visit to Gran's Farm and Belize.
- The 5000 + sq. ft. landscaped deck that adjoins the Restaurant/ Kitchen beckons visitors to either simply lounge around or do sunbathing.
- Our 50,000 gals. swimming pool with its elevated landscaped deck and all its amenities provides for excellent swimming and relaxation.

Belize Business Directory- Activities and Adventure > Botanic Gardens

Belize Botanic Gardens

Grans Farm