Science in the midst of greenery

Set up by The Sri Vani Education Centre School, the park is situated within the school campus and stretches over an area of four-and-a-half acres. This park, with its huge collection of scientific toys, specimen models, rare medicinal plants and other exhibits, is a land of wonder for science enthusiasts. While students of the school are learning science amidst greenery, the park has been thrown open to public too.

The park is divided into many sections. As you enter, you are greeted by a huge animal gallery which houses replicas of  extinct creatures. The park also has a rock garden which comprises of one of the oldest rocks. The rock dates back to 2,950 million years and is a sight to behold. Apart form this, we can also see garnet bearing rocks and a monolith wood fossil which is 20 million years old.

As we continued our walk, the curator of the park, Srinivas, explained the benefits of each medicinal plant and tree that dot the entire four-and-a-half acre stretch of the park. The Dhanavantri Vana has a medicinal plant section that contains more than eighty medicinal plants, herbs, creepers, climbers and trees like ashwagandha, madhunashini, amruthaballi, sarpagandhi, the famous zero calorie sweetener stevia, baje, darbe, shanka-pushpi, brahmi and many more. The park has several rare trees like sandalwood, alale and gulaganji too.

Spices like cardamom, cinnamon, pepper, jaikai and ginger are also seen here.
The park is also home to trees from different continents like bixa, cannon ball, lithchi, pears, cocoa and allamanda. The park has a guarded area which houses a geology museum with a rare collection of crystals, gems, navarathnas, rare shells, corals and ores like bauxite, hematite, mica, gold, etc.

Several igneous, sedimen-tary and metamorphic rocks, fossils, petrified wood, models of dinosaurs, stalagmite, zoological specimens, models of birds and their habitats, semi and precious stones embedded on rocks are also on display here.

For all the budding little scientists, the park has an open Physics laboratory where students can learn various concepts in energy, momentum and angular momentum. Simple machines like wheels and gears, transverse wave model, double cone experiment and generation of electricity can be practically studied here.

After the long, two-hour walk, we finally reached the ochidarium which boasts of a variety of rare orchid species, ferns, anthuriums, pitcher plants, aromatic plants like tea tree plant, rosemary, cajeput oil tree, magnolia, ixora and other rare species.

The park has also set up a storage tank for the collection of rain water and the tank has a capacity of 2.5 lakh litres.

The park is sure to enthrall children and adults. Entry is free and schools can arrange for a day-trip by contacting Sri Vani Education Centre on 23286998, 23584870.