Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden The Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden is a botanical garden focused on succulents and other plants of arid regions, that lies at the foot of the Hex River Mountains range, in the town of Worcester, South Africa. It was originally set up in 1921 near Matjiesfontein further inland. However, in 1945 it was moved to Worcester. It is today one of nine National Botanical Gardens that are run by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). The Garden spans an area of with only being cultivated. The remainder preserves the natural vegetation of the area,
Karoo 10–20 km from the foot of the Swartberg mountains is least karoo-like, in that it is a well-watered area both from the rain and the many streams that cascade down the mountain, or through narrow defiles in the Swartberg from the Great Karoo. The main towns of the region are situated along this northern strip of the Little Karoo: Montagu, Barrydale, Ladismith, Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn, and De Rust, as well as such well-known mission stations such as Zoar, Amalienstein, and Dysselsdorp. The southern 30– to 50-km-wide strip, north of the Langeberg range, is as arid as the western Lower Karoo, except