A tour of the Botanical Garden of Bogotá

One of the places I visited during my trip to Bogota last January was the Botanical Garden of the city, which officially bears the name of Jardín Botánico de Bogotá José Celestino Mutis. When I went with my family to Colombia in 2022, I wanted to visit it, but we didn't have time to go. So taking advantage of the fact that on this occasion, I was staying relatively close to there in my first days in the city, one Saturday morning, I took an Uber to the garden.

The entrance fee for foreigners cost me 25.000 Colombian pesos including the visit to the Tropicarium, that's around 6,5 dollars at today's exchange rate.

That day was one of the few cloudy days I had on my trip and I was grateful for it because it helped make it not so hot during my tour of the garden.

Upon entering there is a map to help you orient yourself within the garden and see where the different areas are. The first thing I wanted to visit was the Tropicarium.

To go there, I had to cross the paths that crossed the main lake of the park.

I liked that everything looks very well maintained and the landscape is beautiful. An oasis of nature in the middle of the city.

I crossed the central little lake of the garden, crossing a couple of small constructions, the first one with a wooden bridge.

And in the second one, there were benches, so if you want to stop for a while you can rest in the shade.

I loved that in the cement along the path there are shapes of different leaves engraved on the floor.

The Tropicarium of the park is a series of greenhouses in the form of a dome in which some of the plants of the different ecosystems found in Colombia are reproduced.

I found the tour very interesting, there is a lot of information, but this could be an aspect to improve, as most of the information is only in Spanish.

The first dome was about the Superparamo.

I learned that these are the areas of the Andean mountains that are more than 4000 meters above sea level and where the vegetation is very sparse.

Following the tour, the next one was the rainforest greenhouse, where there were plants from the Amazon.

It was like being in a little jungle, and the temperature inside was quite humid.

There was a lot of information about some of the plants and one in particular caught my attention. A giant water lily that grows in the Amazon and is named Victoria in honor of Queen Victoria of England.

Some of the leaves were very large. On this one my finger looks like a white ant, lol.

The number of plants is impressive and if you are a botanical enthusiast I guarantee you can spend the whole day learning about plants and taking pictures.

After the rainforest comes the dry forest greenhouse.

There I was impressed that they even had some small cárcavas. We have some areas in Venezuela where they can be found, so it calls my attention to find them in Colombia as well. Although, I was not surprised at all since the ecosystems of both countries are very alike.

Then in the area of useful plants, I was very attracted by all the carnivorous plants they had.

However, some of them could not be seen very close since the area was protected.

There were some orchids. I love these flowers.

After leaving the Tropicario, I went to the rose garden in front of the domes. Despite the drought in those days in the city, there were many roses and the garden was very well-kept.

I liked the pergolas in the corners, perfect to bring a book and spend a few hours reading on one of those benches.

The garden is relatively close to the El Dorado airport, so you often see planes flying overhead.

The landscaping of the garden is beautiful and just looking at it makes you feel relaxed.

Then I went into the trails to visit other areas of the garden.

Finally, there was a small garden where there was an organic vegetable garden.

I was left with the desire to visit an area of the park that was under maintenance where there were some small waterfalls. It will be for the next time.

After touring the garden I was ready to replenish some energy in the garden cafe, called Cafe de la Trocha where they sold typical Colombian products.

I had a tinto (black coffee) with an Almojabana, which is a typical Colombian roll made of corn flour and fresh cheese.

I had a very pleasant morning and the garden is worth a visit.

This is also my post for this week's #wednesdaywalk challenge hosted by @tattoodjay

Thank you for reading.

_{All images and writing are my own unless otherwise stated.}

© CoquiCoin

March 27, 2024

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