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Valparaíso -
Half Day options (from Valparaíso / Viña)
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Due to the increased interest in ecological tourism, the result is higher demand to visit wilderness and National Park areas all over the World. One of the ecologically themed alternatives is in Viña del Mar – the National Botanical Gardens which aims to further the general interest in local ecology, developing and promoting everything to do with Chilean native endemic species.
Visits start with an introductory talk at the gardens’ entrance as to the gardens’ guidelines of use and development methods for sustaining the collection of native endemic species. From here one starts out to explore the gardens on foot using the various special paths implemented for visits. The gardens cover 22 hectares with more than 280 tree species on show. A Cactarium can be visited which has 670 cacti of over 60 species. There is a special plant collection on display from the Robinson Crusoe / Juan Fernandez Archipelago with 578 individual specimens of 53 species endemic to the islands. There are three small collections of Central American cacti, succulents and medicinal plants and Fuscias. 779 species of plants are cultivated of which 42,5% are native plants permanently under threat. Excursion to include the history of the Botanical Gardens, Cactarium and special greenhouse / growing areas. The visitor will be able to understand the history and development of the gardens up to the present day. During the exploratory walks species and tree or plant specimens are described and named. Once at the Cactarium there is a talk specifically about cacti and their characteristics and classification, as well as their growing and habitat conditions. From here a visit is made to the special growing area to see the special collections and see where species are being conserved. |
