Inside Visakhapatnam’s 25-year-old Biodiversity Park

Visakhapatnam Biodiversity Park marks 25 years of conservation

The first time I saw a small spider brush against a leaf and disappear into the toothed rim of a pitcher plant, it felt as though an unfamiliar chapter of Nature had quietly opened. Earlier, another plant had drawn my attention for an equally gentle response. A leaf folded inward the moment it was touched. Nearby, a lantern-red flower swayed and rotated in the breeze, almost as though guided by an unseen rhythm.

These moments did not unfold in a distant wilderness. They occurred on a regular morning within the Biodiversity Park located inside the campus of Rani Chandramani Devi Government Hospital at Peda Waltair in Visakhapatnam.

A bee feeds on a passion flower (Passiflora vitifolia) in full bloom at the Biodiversity Park, located on the premises of RCD Hospital, in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: KR Deepak

The park, maintained by the Dolphin Nature Conservation Society (DNCS) with support from the Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA), shelters nearly 2,500 plant species. As the green space marked its silver jubilee this week, the milestone reflected the quiet persistence of a botanical refuge that has taken root in the city’s collective memory.

Spread across several thematic sections, the garden brings together desert and cactus collections, orchids, rare and endemic medicinal plants, succulents and a greenhouse with delicate specimens. Among its most striking residents is Ginkgo biloba, a relic from the Mesozoic era that has survived millennia of environmental shifts. Each pathway reveals an assortment of forms and textures that introduce visitors to the varied strategies through which plant life adapts and survives.

Mantha Rama Murty and his wife Mangathayi Mantha, founders of the Biodiversity Park in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: K R Deepak