Lloyd Botanical Garden

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India /West Bengal /Darjeeling /Darjeeling

Sight Address : Lloyd Botanical Garden is located Chauk Bazar Below Eden Sanatorium, Darjeeling, India Edit

Detail InformationEdit

Lloyd’s Botanical Garden for the longest stretches of the 40-acre area preserving and displaying hundreds of plant species since 1878; is the greenest Botanical Garden in Darjeeling at 27°2 39″N 88°15 43″E, at an altitude of 7000 feet above sea level. Lloyds’s Botanical Garden has captured the very essence of the Hills capes in its landscape. The garden is undulated and terraced in some parts and slopes in the other parts with lush bright tender-green coloured grass interspersed with tall trees, bushes and flowery shrubs. The Garden has well defined walkways and regular seating areas to cool your heels on this plant-marathon. From some parts of the Garden you can catch a glimpse of the city spaces of Darjeeling and from the other parts you can get stunning unobstructed views of the whole valley of Darjeeling with the White Mountains in the horizon. In some parts of the Garden you walk through tight walkways under dense canopy of mature trees and in the other parts you stand in the vast open lawns under the sun in plain sight and sometimes in the drifting clouds. An interesting feature of this botanical garden is that the Garden Conservatory displays more than 150 species of cactus and other succulent plants from dry Eco-regions such as the montane grasslands and shrub lands as well as the desert where there is a perennial moisture deficit. All these succulents retain water in their stems, leaves and roots whenever they get water, in order to survive long dry periods which run into months at a stretch. What’s more interesting about these succulents on display is that some of them – called ‘Air Plants’ – have no contact with the ground and survive off the moisture that they absorb from the air. They are known to grow on electric poles and walls and trees but survive independent of the host. At Lloyd’s you will find a dazzling display of colours and velvety textures of the Orchids belonging to the Himalayan Mountains’ Singhalia Ridge of West Bengal which have received rave reviews from the thousands who visit this Greenhouse each year. More than 2490 plants are on display in the Orchidarium. Shade-tolerant with low need for fertilizers, the colour-burst bushes of Azaleas, Gladioli, Rhododendrons, Lilies, Magnolias and Geraniums of the Northern Temperate Hemisphere are a feast to the eyes – among others. Arisaema – better known as a ‘cobra lily’ is a rare and catchy display of some of the Asiatic species in the Garden. The mountainous woody plant – Cotoneaster which bears bunches of red berries and is native to Ireland and the UK, is seen in abundance in the Garden. Lloyd Botanical Gardens is also known as Darjeeling Botanical Garden. This garden was planned and established in 1878. The person behind this huge garden is Mr William Lloyd, after whom the botanical garden is named. The garden is spread across an area of almost 40 acres. It was built in reference to the Calcutta Botanical Garden and is told to be a branch of the same. Lloyd Botanical Gardens houses many rare species of flora. The collection of flora gives a clear picture of the vegetation that is dominant in the Himalayan region, especially Sikkim and other neighbouring places. Lloyd Botanical Gardens is known for its collection of orchids (in the Orchid House) and different herbs. There is a separate conservatory for cactus and some succulent species of plants as well as about 150 floral species.

Lloyd Botanical Garden.in Darjeeling

HistoryEdit

Lloyd’s Botanical Garden was established in 1878 when 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land was acquired at Darjeeling to form a botanic garden as a distant annexe of the Calcutta Botanical Garden. The land was provided by William Lloyd, in whose name the botanical garden has been named.

Must SeeEdit

Popular

Visiting TimeEdit

6 a.m. to 5 p.m

Closed OnEdit

N.A.

Best Season to VisitEdit

Winter (December to January)
Spring (February to March)
Summer (April to June)
Autumn (September to November)

Best Time To VisitEdit

Morning , Afternoon.

Time Required for SightseeingEdit

N.A.

Ticket Required : No Edit

Individual National Adult Rs. : N.A.

Kids Rs. : N.A.

Individual Foreigner Adult Rs. : N.A.

Kids Rs. : N.A.

Still Photo Camera Rs. : N.A.

Video Camera Rs. : N.A.

Guide Required : No Edit

Approximate cost: N.A.

Dress Code (If Any) : No Edit

Dress Require: N.A.

Restaurants NearbyAdd / Edit

N.A. ; N.A. ; Ph/M – N.A. ; Food Serve – N.A.

How to ReachEdit

Taxi : Intra-city transport is mostly by hired taxis. The private taxis or cars are essentially of two types – small cars like Maruti Vans or Santros, and large ones like Scorpio, Tata Sumo etc. While you can always take a private taxi/car from outside the station or airport, negotiate the rates and move for Darjeeling, it is always advisable to take one from the Pre-Paid taxi counters located inside the station and the airport.

Bus : You will get buses only from the Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus located on Hill Cart Road in Siliguri. It is about 8kms from NJP station. The usual route is by Hill Cart Road and the travel duration is about 4 hours. Bus fare from Siliguri to Darjeeling Via Hill Cart Road: Rs. 50.00 per person Bus fare from Siliguri to Darjeeling Via Mongpu: Rs. 80.00 per person. The Mongpu route is taken in case the Hill Cart Road is closed. After getting down at the bus stop, you can take an auto-rickshaw, or hire a taxi to reach the destination within the city.

Train : New Jalpaiguri is the nearest major railway station. New Jalpaiguri is well connected to major Indian cities, especially Kolkata. The diesel engine hauled toy train leaves NJP station at 9am and takes about 7 hours 15 minutes to reach Darjeeling. You can also board the train from Siliguri Town Station or Siliguri Junction Station that are 5kms and 8kms away from NJP respectively. There are also toy trains available from Siliguri Junction and Darjeeling for joy rides. These are steam engine hauled toy trains. Check out Darjeeling Toy Train Services for current status and schedules.
NJP to Darjeeling (1st Class): Not operational since Sept 2010 due to track damage
NJP to Darjeeling (2nd Class): Not operational since Sept 2010 due to track damage
Darjeeling to Ghoom & back Joy Ride (First Class): Rs. 270.00 per person if booked through IRCTC website. This two hours ride includes entry fee for the DHR Museum at Ghoom.
Siliguri Junction Station to Tindharia & back Joy Ride: Rs. 496.00 per person. After getting down at the railway station, you can take an auto-rickshaw, bus or hire a taxi to reach the destination within the city.

Air : Darjeeling does not have an airstrip. The nearest airport is Bagdogra airport (IXB), near Siliguri, which is a 3-hour (approx. 90 km) drive from Darjeeling. Indian, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines are the three major carriers that fly to Delhi, Kolkata and Guwahati from Bagdogra. Indian Airlines (2254230; Chowrasta) (10am-5.30pm Mon-Sat). Pineridge Travels (2253912; pineridge@mail.com; Nehru Rd; h10am-5pm Mon-Sat) For domestic and international flight tickets. After getting down at the airport, you can take an auto-rickshaw, bus or hire a taxi to reach the destination within the city.

Others : Toy train are also available for this destination.

Things to CarryEdit

Carry bottle of drinking water.Sun-screen, sun glasses, tissue-rolls, roll of duct-tape, extra batteries, torchlight, water, energy-bars are ‘must-carry’ along with a First-aid kit.
•Medicines to carry when you are travelling to a new place or when you’re away from home town (which must be approved and prescribed by your physician or medical practitioner) are:
• Painkillers
• Anti-inflammatory
• Wide-spectrum antibiotic
• Anti-diarrhea
• Anti-constipation pills
• Mild sleeping pills – just in case you feel very overwhelmed by the altitude and atmosphere because of which you are unable to sleep.