Botanist battles lockdown to save Andean garden paradiseBotanist Alberto Gomez cleans a lake at his botanical garden in Quindio, ColombiaCALARCá, Colombia: When the coronavirus pandemic swept through Colombia in March, forcing a national lockdown, Alberto Gomez decided he would sit it out amid the lush green foliage of his botanical garden and tend to his plants. Far from his family in the capital Bogota, and with his 30 staff members in lockdown, Gomez is striving alone to keep his life's work from being swallowed up by the voracious Andean forest. A lawyer by profession, the law allowed him to provide for his family as he built up his botanical garden over decades. As president of Colombia's National Network of Botanical Gardens of Colombia, Gomez says he feels an enormous weight of responsibility. In his lockdown paradise, his mind swarms with ideas for new projects for his park as he awaits the return of tourists.

Source: Bangkok Post July 09, 2020 07:18 UTC