New Caledonia: Lifue Island – Botanic Gardens
The Botanic Gardens on Lifou Island had a nice collection of both native and non-native flora, but also insects and skinks. An interesting plant was kava, grown in Melanesia for its roots that are then dried and pounded into powder to make lava drink (a slight narcotic). Sadly, the gardens were more of a hodgepodge of plants, rather then representative of the unique world of New Caledonia, which in fact has the highest biodiversity and endemism of any island group in the world given its long isolated evolution – 5 families, 107 genera and 3,380 species. Will definitely have to come back and explore!
