Botanical gardens reopen in Maputo

Revamped gardens open again after two-year closure.

The Tunduru botanical gardens, on Rua Henrique de Sousa in downtown Maputo, have been re-opened by the city's mayor David Simango, after a closure of more than two years for upgrading work.

The upgrade included restoring the existing greenhouse and constructing a new one, improving the pathways, fences and public benches, and installing new sanitation and irrigation systems. There is also a new tourist information centre and planning has been granted for the construction of a restaurant on the grounds.

The works began in October 2013 and should have been completed by 2014 but ran into successive delays. The revamp cost 170 million meticais (about $3.7 million) and was funded by the city council, the national ports and rail company CFM, and the Vale Foundation, established by the Brazilian mining giant Vale which has extensive interests in northern Mozambique.

The city says that municipal police will patrol the botanical gardens which were designed in 1885 by British landscape designer Thomas Honney.

The gardens are also home to the Maputo Tennis Club and contain a statue of Mozambique’s first president Samora Machel who led the country from independence in 1975 until his death in a plane crash in 1986.