Baldha Garden: A Museum of Indigenous and Exotic Plants

Baldha Garden is regarded as one of the oxygen centers in Dhaka city. Its natural beauty attracts nature lovers as well as tourists. In a city like Dhaka, it plays an important role to reduce the pollution and keep balance in the environment. If you want to be in the midst of nature but do not have much time to go outside Dhaka then it is perhaps the best place for you.

History of Baldha Garden:

Baldha Garden was established by landlord Narendra Narayan Roy Chaudhury. He began making this garden in 1909 and continued to expand it until his death in 1943. It took more than thirty years to give this private property a complete shape. The owner arranged musical performances (i.e. Jalsas) here. After his death, his descendant used to take care of this garden. However, due to a lack of maintenance, its condition began to deteriorate. In order to protect this, his grandson gave the responsibility of maintaining and improving the garden to the Forest Department in 1962. Since then it is maintained under the Department of Forestry as a satellite unit of the National Botanical Garden.

Main attractions:

Baldha Garden attracts people for its picturesque beauty and green environment. Here one can find an enormous collection of indigenous and exotic plants brought from various countries of the world. The whole garden has been divided into two sections- Cybele and Psyche.

In the Psyche section, there are many things to look at. The lily pond is perhaps the most beautiful thing here. This pond is covered with our national flower lily and various types of hydrophytic plants. While roaming in this area, one may come across a house which is made only for Aloe plants. The unique type of plants such as, climbing Ivy and Cyperus Papyrus, which is also known as Egyptian paper plant, add up to the beauty of the garden. There is a lotus tank where one can find Amazon lotus and blue nympheas. Other trees are cactus, orchid and various types of flower trees such as, Bakul flower (Mimusops elengi).

In the Cybele section, things that catch the attention of the vacationers are the famous Sankhanidhi Pond, sundial, Ashoka tree (Saraca asoca), African tulip, Camellia, Joy house and Fern house. One can spend quality time sitting on the staircase of the wharf of Sankhanidhi Pond. Not only the wharf but also the entire bank of the pond is concreted and the stairs have gone down almost at the deep of the pond. As a part of the beautification of the wharf, tree tubs are placed in the middle of the staircase. Decorative work of the mosaic in wharf will make visitors astonished. Below is given a Youtube video of this pond.

Many famous personalities from different parts of the world came to Bangladesh to visit this botanical garden. The world poet Rabindranath Tagore was one of them. When he came to Dhaka for the last time in 1926, he visited Baldha Garden and other historical and tourist spots in Dhaka. He even stayed one night in Joy house. The poet was so much attracted by the beauty of the camellia flower that he even wrote a famous poem “Camellia” (ক্যামেলিয়া) after going back to Kolkata.

Museum of plants and flowers:

Baldha Garden is undoubtedly a beautiful place for jogging. It is one of the few places in Dhaka city where people can get fresh air and oxygen, which let them live long in this polluted metropolitan. This botanical garden is 3.15 acres in size. This one of the oldest botanical gardens in Bangladesh is the house of about 15000 plants of 672 species of around 335 classes belonging to 87 families. If anyone wants to see rare species of plants and keep in touch with nature then he or she can take a short visit there. Tourists can enjoy the beauty of the nature and quietness of this wonderful place. Because of its rich collections of plants and various types of flowers, it is considered a museum of plants and flowers.

Location and nearest tourist spots:

Reading the above descriptions, readers will feel the interest of visiting this place. This garden is situated at Wari in old Dhaka. This garden being located very close to Tikatuli area and Saidabad bus terminal, one can go there by bus. Bus service is available from different parts of Dhaka city. If you want to avoid the hassle of the public transport then you can take a taxi or CNG. If you get down in Tikatuli then you can go to the destination by foot or rickshaw. It remains open from 9-12 am and 3-5 pm. To enter into this property, you have to collect a ticket which costs Tk 20 only.

If travelers go there early in the morning then they can also visit the nearest tourist spots- Bahadur Shah Park (formerly known as Victoria Park), Ahsan Manzil, Rose Garden Palace and Dhaka University as well. Rich historical value and beautiful architectural design of these places will definitely fascinate the visitors.

Nuisance:

The Cybele section of the Baldha Garden has been open for common visitors. Taking this advantage, they indulge in indecent behavior which put pedestrian and visitors in an uncomfortable situation. Because of the shameless activities of the lovers, this garden turns into a dating spot. They are responsible for spoiling the environment of the garden. There is also a danger of facing the hijacker or other nuisance. For this reason, I will suggest the visitors as well as tourists to visit this place in a group.