Jardin Botanique de Kisantu
Jardin Botanique de Kisantu
Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (I.C.C.N)
P. O. Box 108
Inkisi-Kisantu, Bas-Congo
Congo, the Democratic Republic of the
Web: http://www.kisantu.net
Léopold Nsimundele, Director
Email: nsimuleopold@yahoo.fr
The Kisantu botanical garden is located 120 km south of Kinshasa, in the Bas-Congo province. The 225-hectare garden are crisscrossed by 12.5 km of trails and pathways for pedestrians and vehicles. Created in 1990 by the Jesuit Justin Gillet, they were fully revamped between 2004 and 2008 with the support of the European Union and the National Botanic Garden of Belgium. The garden is a key site for ex situ conservation in Central Africa, with more than 3,000 local and introduced species in its living collection. The herbarium is one of the oldest and richest in the Congo. Among others, the arboretum, the new orchid shade house, the cactus greenhouse, and the collection of aquatic plants are wonders well worth visiting.
With its renovated facilities, the garden has become an environmental training centre that collaborates with international and Congolese scientific institutions for the benefit of researchers and technicians from the DRC and the countries of the entire Congo basin. Several biodiversity research endeavours for sustainable ecosystem management are in place there. Like major international botanical gardens, Kisantu is a site for researchers, nature lovers, schoolchildren and tourists in search of a haven of natural beauty.