The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), renowned for its research and wealth of knowledge on the native flora of many parts of the world, and in particular Arabia, was the obvious place to seek help when the Sultan of Oman decided to create a botanic garden in his country.
The new garden in Muscat, covering 425 hectares, will be one of the largest in the world. The flora of Oman, of which there are around 1200 species, will be displayed as natural habitats, including those of both northern and southern Oman that will need to be grown in specially designed conservatories. Incorporating the Arabic culture of Oman, it will be a unique and extremely important tourism and conservation project for the Middle East.
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