Orman Garden

Giza, Egypt, Egypt

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Orman Garden in Giza, Cairo is one of Egypt's most famous and largest botanical gardens in the world, covering 28 acres and founded in 1875 during the reign of Khedive Isma'il Pasha. The garden was designed by French landscaper Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps as part of the Khedive's Palace complex, with the original larger site producing fruits, citrus fruits, and vegetables brought from Sicily for the Khedive's palaces. It became a public botanical garden in 1917 and was placed under the Ministry of Agriculture's management, with "Orman" being a Turkish word meaning "forest" or "bush". Located in El-Dokki Street in Giza directly across from the Giza Zoological Garden and east of Cairo University, the garden is west of the Nile River and opens daily from 9 AM to 4 PM with an entrance fee of 3-5 Egyptian pounds. Today, Orman Garden contains a rare and valuable collection including 600 plant species across 100 families, featuring a herbarium building with preserved plants, rock garden, rose garden, cactus gardens, and its most notable feature—the famous lotus pond. The garden has hosted Egypt's oldest continuous spring floral exhibition since 1920, which begins annually on March 22, and also includes a greenhouse for breeding and selling plants to the public. A development project is underway to merge Orman Garden with the adjacent zoo through a modern tunnel, adding hotels, markets, and improved animal habitats, with official opening planned for 2026.