GEORGE NEWS - If all goes according to plan, the Garden Route Botanical Garden could get a new entrance next year. Plans are in the pipeline to revamp the present entrance on the southern side, possibly with help from Germany. This was confirmed by Finn Rautenbach, manager of the garden.
The project was initiated by Jörn Bernhardt, a retired German economist who recently visited the garden as part of a support programme by the German government in the form of their Senior Expert Service (SES).
This is a skills development programme that sends skilled professionals to NPOs in developing countries to assist them with pertinent issues such as fundraising. Bernhardt has more than 40 years' experience in non-profit organisations (NPOs).
Educational value
Bernhardt's suggestion led to a follow-up visit by German biologist Helge Zabka, who arrived in George in early November and concludes his visit tomorrow, Friday 6 December. According to Rautenbach, Zabka was tasked to develop concepts of how to increase the educational potential of the Garden Route Botanical Garden.
These concepts include interpretive signage, educational installations and many other exciting projects. With 26 years of experience as a director of a zoological garden in Germany, many of Zabka's concepts have been personally tried and tested.
Zabka has successfully applied to a German non-profit organisation called Lapdoo for a donation of two laptops to the garden's Environmental Education Centre. These laptops are filled with educational material that will be used by the education centre in future educational projects.
Lapdoo is a carbon-neutral organisation focused on supplying educational organisations with laptops.
Rautenbach said that a proposal, in which assistance with the revamp of the entrance is asked, will be submitted to the German Embassy in January.
Manager of the Garden Route Botanical Garden Finn Rautenbach (left) and German biologist Helge Zabka. Photos: Eugene Gunning
Educational possibilities
Zabka told the George Herald he is very impressed with what he has seen in the garden. He walked through the garden during his first weekend here and was surprised at its size. "It is very important to George and it has a lot of educational possibilities," he said.
There are challenges though, one of them the appearance of the entrance. "It must change. The garden's entrance should be something visitors don't forget."
He also said the garden's educational possibilities would be expanded if it were made more accessible for blind and disabled people. He said the garden should work towards developing all the senses in children and adolescents and suggested that a tactile path for the blind must be established to help develop the sense of touch.
A tactile path would help blind children, as well as children who are blindfolded, experience what trees feel like. Suitable signs can act as aid.
He has made short and medium-term proposals for developing the garden.
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