Botanic Park re-opens in flourishing style

Guests, staff and well-wishers walk around the
Botanic Park on Saturday, after the park
was re-opened.

(L-r) Eziethamae Bodden, Gilbert Conolly,
Andrew Guthrie, and Carla Reid at the opening of the
Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park.

Andrew Guthrie, General Manager of the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park.	Gilbert Connolly, CEO Tourism Attractions Board, at the re-opening of the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park.

Friday, May  6, 2005

The Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park at Frank Sound re-opened once again on Saturday 29 April after an extensive enforced closure in the wake of Hurricane Ivan.

The park was severely damaged during the storm with a large percentage of the tree canopy destroyed, owing to salt spray, and a large number of trees blown down, so that it was heartening to see the changes that had taken place, evidence of a vast amount of work and effort.

The Master of Ceremonies was Gilbert Connolly, CEO of the Tourism Attractions Board, which oversees the Park’s management.

Mr Connolly introduced the Park’s General Manager, Andrew Guthrie, who spoke of the Park’s devastation and the effort that had been made since.

Carla Reid, Chairperson of the National Trust spoke about the Trust’s interest in the Park, and about the efforts of the Blue Iguana recovery programme, which has been successful in its efforts to breed the extremely rare Blue Iguanas, which are endemic to the Cayman Islands, and re-introduce them to the wild; so far the programme has 23 mature, and 198 juvenile iguanas in the programme.

Ms Reid went on to speak about the use of the Park as an educational resource for schools.

The Hon McKeeva Bush, OBE, JP, Leader of Government Business was unable to be present at the event because of another pressing engagement, but had asked that his speech be read in his absence.

“We are able to watch as the Park takes on a new shape and feel…this represents a whole new natural wonderland,” Mr Bush’s speech said.

The speech also described the way in which Mr Bush had grown up surrounded by nature, and he remembered the many different kinds of fruit trees that had surrounded his home as a boy, and the importance of preserving this experience for future generations through media such as the Botanic Park.

After the speeches, the many guests, supporters and well-wishers were able to walk through the park and witness it’s beauty firsthand.

Opened by Her Majesty the Queen on the 27 February 1994, the park has seen many developments since then to become one of the Cayman Islands’ top tourist attractions.

When the gates were first opened to the public in 1994, there was only a nature trail on the 65-acre site, but the basic infrastructure and the master plans and the vision of the Park were in place thanks to the hard work and commitment of many volunteers from the National Trust Initiative, as well as other dedicated supporters.

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