The Botanical Ark is situated in a unique position in Australia's wet tropics. High rainfall creates lush jungles and permanently flowing creeks. Established in 1981, the Botanical Ark was created as a self-reliant farm. The search for new plants led Alan and Susan Carle to some of the most remote regions of the tropical world - from the Amazon to Central Africa; from Papua New Guinea to the dense jungles of S.E. Asia. A visit to this unique concept that brings people and plantstogether and fosters conservation through understanding. The Botanical Ark is preserving some of the genetic diversity that makes life on this planet so interesting and varied. The Botanical Ark attempts to conserve as many of these types of tropical plants as practicable - including their wild relatives - growing more than 300 different types of fruits and nuts, hundreds of rare species of flowers, and numerous botanical medicines, fibres, dyes, oils, cosmetics and other unusual and threatened plants. They follow his specific path of Ethnobotany, the study of plants useful to the peoples of the world. Consider the Miracle Fruit - a small tree (Synsalum dulcificum) from Nigeria...It's small red berries are an amazing natural sweetener - the complex protein in the fruit coats ones taste buds and blocks out the acid and sour receptors - making the sourest lemon taste deliciously sweet. This sensation can last up to two hours. Not satisfied with just growing lots of plants in a garden setting, the Botanical Ark has embarked upon a unique experiment of recreating, as near as possible, small microcosms of rainforests from Asian, American, African and Pacific tropics. Forests where people can enter and find many of the plants that they may need to survive- plants which indigenous cultures use in their everyday lives. The Botanical Ark is located in Tropical Queensland, adjacent to the Daintree Wilderness, Great Barrier Reef, near Port Douglas (30 minutes) and Cairns (90 minutes). Open by appointment, Susan and Alan Carle, will entertain you or your group with morning and afternoon tours that include tea with exotic fruits, juices, and cakes, lunches, or even breakfasts, conference venues, site locations for media shows, lectures and workshops. Call 61-70-988-174 or fax: 61-70-988-173 or write to PO Box 354, MOssman, 4873, Tropical Queensland, Australia. |
