Durban Botanic Gardens’ Trail of Lights 2024
December 6, 2024 – January 3, 2025
R90
If it’s Durban and it’s December. . .it has to be Trail of Lights time!! CELEBRATION is this year’s theme for South Africa’s largest and most popular festive light extravaganza! Celebrating eight years of brilliant awe and wonder, this year’s luminous event offers a double-whammy to visitors – the Durban Botanic Gardens is proud to mark their 175th anniversary milestone, in collaboration with the Durban Botanic Gardens Trust and the Trail of Lights, which is the Trust’s biggest annual fundraiser.
Bringing enchantment and joy to visitors of all ages in Africa’s oldest surviving botanic garden, the show runs from 6 December 2024 to 3 January 2025. Organisers are promising a host of sparkling new attractions, from a re-imagined Santa’s Workshop and Grotto and Build-A-Bear Workshop, to a variety of themed areas, including the iconic Whale Tails created by SAAMBR (SA Association of Marine Biology Research).
About The Durban Botanic Gardens Trust
The Durban Botanic Gardens Trust is an independent discretionary Trust, established in 1993 to support the Durban Botanic Gardens with various maintenance and development projects, including projects with a focus on the following core areas: education, biodiversity, heritage, horticulture, research and people, plants and culture. The Trust, through its various fundraising initiatives, sponsorships and donations from both public and corporate benefactors, is able to invest in the future of the Durban Botanic Gardens to ensure that the Gardens remains a garden of excellence and a garden for all, and maintains its relevance and presence within the horticultural world at both international and regional level.
The Gardens’ presence within eThekwini is also critically important to ensuring a balance within the urban environment. Whilst it is a major tourist attraction, it is also a place of peace and tranquility for all the citizens of Durban. As an independent body from the municipality, the Trust ensures that the qualitative elements of the development and maintenance of the Gardens can be supplemented, thereby ensuring that the Gardens continues to be recognised as an educational, scientific and culturally relevant institution.
In addition, the historical Gardens themselves are a cause for celebration, reaching a milestone marking 175 years since the Durban Botanic Gardens was established in 1849. Renowned for its lush greenery and vibrant flora, the oldest surviving botanical garden in Africa will be transformed into an enchanting wonderland of lights. Visitors can wander along the trail to find a surprise around every corner, revealing multiple pockets of dazzling light installations that showcase the natural surroundings in all their beauty.