The Botanical Garden of Mérida (Spanish: Centro Jardín Botánico de Mérida) is located in the city of the same name, in the north-west of Venezuela. This garden was organized by the University of the Andes in 1991 and was opened to the public 11 years later.
44 hectares of the area provided by the educational institution became a spacious territory for the garden. The site is divided into zones that combine certain types of flora: dry forests and xerophytes, aquatic plants, medicinal plants, rainforests, bromeliads, and a collection of orchids.
The garden is home to thousands of plants, many invertebrates, and about 100 species of vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds). Representatives of flora and fauna are not only “domestic” species from Venezuela but also typical for Colombia, Mexico, Asia, Africa, Australia.
This area is mountainous: the garden occupies the southeastern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Mérida. Its average height is 1,850 m. The natural area includes quite steep slopes and smooth elevation changes and plateaus. Due to the abundance of precipitation - an average annual rate is more than 2000 mm - the local climate is humid (from 74 to 81%); average daytime temperatures during the year are between 12 and 20 ° C. The coldest month in this area is January, the highest temperatures are in May and June.
The botanical garden is located at the northern end of the city, in the district of La Hechicera. The most convenient way to get to this part of Mérida is along Alberto Carnevali Avenue. In the northeast, the garden is bordered by plots of private land and a road leading to the Chorros de Milla zoo. To the south is Alberto Carnevali Avenue and the Albarregas River. The location of the garden also reminds of its original affiliation to the university: from the east, the garden plots are adjacent to the Faculty of Forest Sciences of the University of the Andes (ULA), the district of La Milagrosa and the urban district of Los Chorros de Milla; nearby, on the west side, stands the university stadium and the university complex La Hechicera of the University of the Andes.