Lowveld National Botanical Gardens
When staying at our Mbombela accommodation, you have to spend some time at the Lowveld National Botanical Gardens. Here you will find plants unique to the Lowveld, left to grow wild while you spend your day hiking around the area.
In this blog, we take a look at the history of the gardens and what you can expect to see.
Back in 1969, the Nelspruit Municipality established the Lowveld National Botanical Gardens, noting that it would promote the area for tourism. The diverse flora of the area would also aid education and conservation. On the September 1971, the Garden was officially opened by the Administrator of the Transvaal. The grounds were donated by the local municipality and HL Hall & Sons. Only 30 ha of the 165 ha grounds is cultivated or landscaped, the remainder is left in its natural state and considered a low maintenance area.
The Crocodile and Nels River forms part of the Lowveld Botanical Gardens, converging in the Gardens in the forms of two incredible waterfalls. These waterfalls can be viewed from the Cascades and Nels viewpoints. The vegetation in the Garden is savannah with a mixed of Lowveld Bushveld and Sour Lowveld Bushveld. Magnificent indigenous lawns and indigenous plants can be found in the landscaped part of the Gardens, with the largest collection of South African trees.
The Lowveld Gardens are a bird watcher’s paradise with the natural vegetation attracting over 245 bird species. Crested Francolins and the Emerald-Spotted Wood-Dove are included in the wide variety of birds.
While taking a stroll through the magnificent Gardens, you are definitely going to see several of the 75 species of reptiles and amphibians that make the Gardens their home. Snakes ranging from the Mozambique Spitting Cobra and Infamous Black Mamba to the Twig Snake make up more than half of the reptile population.
Hippopotamus, although rarely seen in the day, form part of the mammal population that can be seen in the Gardens. Keep a lookout for Vervet Monkeys, Tree Squirrels and Thick-Tailed Bushbabies as well.
Take a walk over the suspended bridge that crosses the Crocodile River, runs through an enchanted man-made African Rain Forest and the cascading waterfall can be viewed. Spring is a wonderful time of the year to visit the gardens. The temperature is moderate at this time of year. After the first rains, the air is clear and there is a sense of renewal everywhere in the Gardens.
The Wild Pear is in blossom and the Clivia’s have masses of displays. The beautiful large wine-red flowers of the well-known Sausage Tree is a stunning sight and with the trumpet-shaped flowers full of nectar, there is an abundance of birds and bees to be seen from dawn till dusk. Every sunbird in the area is surely attracted to the Weeping Boerbean’s flowers, as their flowers are so laden with sweet nectar that literally drips to the ground.
