Background: Situated within the vast campus of the University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby, the National Capital Botanical Gardens is one of the prime tourist attractions in the country.

André Millar established the gardens in 1971 on some 25 hectares of land and some of her ground breaking work is still evident, most prominently the large area of rainforest, a most unusual sight for normally dry and dusty Port Moresby. The gardens were initially established as a teaching garden for the UPNG Biology Department and also as a nursery to supply plants for the University grounds.

After Mrs. Millar's departure in the late 1970's the gardens experienced problems with management and funding and eventually declined from a beautiful garden to a desolate piece of bushland.

In 1993 the National Capital District Commission took over the assets of the gardens and established a major redevelopment program.

NCBG today:The National Capital Botanical Gardens has a huge collection of plants from all over Papua New Guinea as well as many plants from other parts of the world. These include many palm species, bamboos, heliconias, cordyline, pandanus, native trees and shrubs. Well known for its extensive collection of Papua New Guinea orchid species housed in large greenhouses the gardens have large orchid houses for orchid hybrids producing cut flowers for the own flower shop.

There are a number of animals on display, like tree climbing kangaroos, gouria pigeons (click thumbnail to see image of the chick born 14.07.2003), birds of paradise, cockatoos, lorikeets, parrots and many other birds. The gardens, in a world-class exhibit, are home to one of the largest snakes in captivity anywhere in the world, a 19 ft reticulated python from Malaysia.

Some years ago an orchid research centre was established. This includes a small herbarium and a fully equipped orchid tissue culture laboratory where annually thousands of orchid plants are produced form seed and tissue culture.

Near the main entrance to the gardens are the administration office, a small herbarium, a library and a tissue culture laboratory where species and hybrids are being propagated. There is also a flower shop and a tropical landscape nursery.

Education: The garden collection of flora and fauna is the only place in the city that offers educational attractions and more in depth view and appreciation of PNG flora and fauna. It is a valuable resource in scientific and environmental education for school children. The gardens offer proper educational tour to school children and cover a variety of subjects that is relevant to the garden settings.

The general guided walk begin with the snake house, the palm collection, birds and animal collection, the mini rainforest, the timber tree collection, the vanilla collection, the orchid nursery and its collection and finally to the insect collection. The guided tour may takes up to two hour depending on the theme of visit. Each collection is interpreted and explained to the school children according to their understanding and their theme of the days visit.

The gardens educational visits helps develop in school children a responsible attitude towards the environment and help them learn and appreciate the remarkable beauty of PNG natural heritage as seen at the National Capital Botanical Garden collections.

The National Capital Botanical Gardens is open to the public daily from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm.