The National Botanical Garden of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh National Herbarium make up the largest plant conservation center in Bangladesh, with an area of around 84 hectares (210 acres). It is located at Mirpur in Dhaka, beside the Dhaka Zoo. It was established in 1961. It is one of the greatest botanical gardens of Bangladesh a knowledge center for nature lovers and botanists and a tourist destination. The herbarium has a scientific collection of approximately 1, 00,000 preserved specimens of plants.
Balda Garden which is in the Wari area of Dhaka is administratively part of the National Garden. The garden is well planned and provides learning and recreational facilities adjacent to the Dhaka Zoo. The garden houses about 56000 individual of trees, herbs and shrubs including huge collection of aquatic plants. Rare and exotic plant species in the garden.
History of National Botanical Garden:
The National Botanical Garden of Bangladesh had rather a humble beginning when at a UNESCO symposium on scientific problems of Humid Tropical Deltas which had been held in Dhaka in 1964. It was decided that a herbarium should be established in Dhaka. The proposal was put forward to the government of East Pakistan which was ruling the area at the time and was eventually approved with a budget for five years and four staff members. Following the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the project was supported by the new government, but hit financial problem in 1973. However the newly established in Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) took over funding, with control passing to the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 1994. Visitors to the National Botanical Garden of Bangladesh will soon come to appreciate the efforts put in by Bangladeshi authorities and researchers to preserve the natural bounty of Bangladesh for current and future generation to enjoy.
A modern vegetative propagation arrangement and tissue culture laboratory have been established in the garden for propagation of rare species. Initially, tissue culture of orchids and other rare species have been adopted. Besides, a huge rose garden, criss crossing lake, which deck, artificial water fall, bridge over the lake and above all the thousands of migratory birds in winter are the main attraction of the National Botanical Garden.
National Botanical Garden Ticket Price:
Entry fee 20tk (Adult) and 10tk (Child) and 5tk (Members of any study tour).
Botanical Garden Opening Hour:
The garden remains open every day and its visiting hour is 9am-5pm during March-November and 9am-4:30pm during December –February. Visitors have to buy tickets for getting into the garden.
National Botanical Garden Off Day:
The park is open for seven days. There’s no off day.
Contact Number:
Phone: 8033292
Address:
Mirpur Natinal Botanical Garden
Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
Telephone 381038
Location (How to go):
Frequent bus services available from any location Dhaka to Mirpur-1 (Zoo & Garden).
National Botanical Garden Most Attractive Things:
The garden is well planned and provides learning and recreational facilities, located adjacent to the National Zoo. The garden is divided into 57 sections and is managed by the government through the Department of Forestry, Ministry of Environment and Forests. A satellite unite of the National Botanical Garden is the Balda Garden. There are in addition smaller Botanical Gardens in the city. It primarily serves the purpose of teaching botany to the university students and enabling scientific studies with plants by the students and faculty of the university, outside Dhaka, also have Botanical Gardens for scientific studies. Recently the government of Bangladesh has decided to establish a new botanical garden in the Chandranath Hills in Chittagong.
Many people gather here for passing time and taking breath in pure natural environment forgetting the bustle life.