botanika invites you to research in the Discovery Centre and explore our Asian landscapes all year round. You can find an overview of all the news concerning the exhibitions and information on scheduled events and programmes here.
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More diverse, more digital and more accessible
Starting in December 2023, it’s time to get out your smartphone or grab your tablet and choose an expert tour guide to experience our world of diversity in a whole new way. Follow the tropical butterflies on the trail of a butterfly researcher, get to know our apes with an animal keeper or accompany a pilgrim on this trip through the lush greenery. What does mindfulness mean in Buddhism? Find out from the pilgrim!
With the “botanika digital” project funded by the ERDF, we are now creating even more experiences for a larger range of visitors. In addition to a new digital guidance system for visitors, information communication is also being expanded on many levels. As an experience and knowledge centre, botanika aims to enable greater participation of people with special requirements as part of the project. Adults and children, with or without wheelchairs, seeing or blind, deaf or hearing, interested in reading or preferring hands-on experiences – everyone is different and each is free to discover botanika in their own way.
We are working on new experiences for our guests! For this purpose, we shall be filming at botanika on
Monday 28th August, Wednesday 30th August and Thursday 31st August 2023.
While filming is taking place, there must be no disturbing noises in the background and no visitors walking through the shot unplanned. As such, we kindly ask our guests to avoid the respective filming locations when in use on those days and to visit them later.
You’ll have to wait a little longer if you would like to know what we are filming, but we shall soon be inviting you to “follow the trail” and discover botanika in a whole new way.
What happened to our titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), which impressed us in June 2022 with an inflorescence measuring 2.1 m in height? As is usual after flowering and dormancy, it has now produced a leaf. Yes, you read that correctly. What looks like a small tree with a crown of leaves is actually a single large, divided leaf currently around 3 m tall. Why not drop by our Tropical Greenhouse and see for yourself?
botanika, a world of nature discovery and education centre, has been famous in Bremen for 20 years now. We want to celebrate our anniversary with a colourful bouquet of events: In January, we are celebrating Chinese New Year. For mid-February, we have a romantic evening for lovebirds planned in cooperation with Bloom. March is devoted to azalea flowers as well as bunnies and chicks. On 22nd April, Phil Porter is hosting his Fête des Fleurs and transforming botanika into a Garden of Eden of passions. In addition, almost the whole of botanika will be in bloom in March and April and the Himalayas will be awash with the scent of spring. We are hoping for amazing rhododendron flowers in the park in May and a tropical night is being planned for June...
For some time now, we have been hearing the sound of cheerful whistling and warbling in our Tropical Greenhouse. This symphony is the melodious creation of our poison dart frogs. They tend to hide on or in plants, but you may sometimes also see them sitting more in the open. If you would like to see them up close, you should drop by our Discovery Centre, where you can find a range of poison dart frogs to admire in the frog terrarium – including some also living in the Tropical Greenhouse.
Experience botanika at dusk and immerse yourself in a special atmosphere. The plant exhibitions reveal themselves from a completely different side as dusk falls in the darker months. A touch of mysticism hangs in the air. It might feel like you’re in a fairytale forest. No wonder, as we have replaced the usual lighting with a range of bright spotlights setting colourful accents every day from 4:30 p.m. Light installations at selected locations add motion to the mix.
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The first one bloomed in botanika in June, now the next titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) is set to open its inflorescence in the next few days!
This younger plant isn’t breaking any records with its height of just over 1 metre, but will still be putting on a spectacle for your nose. As the spathe opens, the spadix releases an intense scent of rotting meat to attract insects for pollination. This most exciting part of the flowering phase usually lasts from late afternoon until the evening hours, but can only be predicted with certainty a few hours in advance. We will keep you informed of the progress on our Facebook page!
The summer holidays in Bremen are set to be wild! Thrilling guided tours for young and old alike teach our visitors interesting facts like why butterflies taste with their feet and where the poison dart frog gets its name. On Mondays and Wednesdays, the “Bananenfalter, Segler & Co.” (Owl butterflies, clippers and friends) guided tour explains all about tropical butterflies. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the “Beo, Gibbon & Co.” (Mynas, gibbons and friends) tour introduces botanika’s animal residents. The guided tours each begin at 3 p.m. Further information and all the dates and times can be found in our programme overview.
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In June, you had the opportunity to admire a blooming titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) at botanika. The most thrilling part of this rare event, which only happens every 3–7 years, generally extends from the late afternoon into the evening hours. As the spathe opens, the plant releases an intense scent of rotting meat to attract insects for pollination. Our titan arum’s inflorescence reached a height of more than 2 metres. The spathe opened on 19th June 2022, indicating the start of the flowering. The spadix then ultimately collapsed on Thursday 23rd June 2022. The plant is now back in the Tropical Greenhouse, where the temperatures and humidity are ideal for it.
