On Friday 30 September the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden opened its Braille Trail.
The 154 m route has been designed to be easily accessible to the visually impaired, with special bricks laid on the path and boards containing various plant information in Braille dotted along it. There are also poems in the language that have been written by various local poets.
According to the Garden Manager, Ricardo Riddles, the project had been in the offing for a number of years.
“When I started working here I realised the Braille Trail back then wasn’t very practical,” he pointed out at the opening. “There really wasn’t any proper guidance for the visually impaired. So I decided we should make a new one.
“But due to funding constraints it has taken us a number of years finally to complete the project.”
Riddles said the poems along the route had their own QR codes, which can be scanned and listened to in different languages.
“We are privileged to be able to open the new Braille Trail, and in that manner give back to the blind community of Worcester.”
Elrich Swarts, a mobility specialist, said independence is hugely important for the visually impaired.
“This new Braille Trail will enable them to explore the garden on their own,” he said.
Dr William Rowland congratulated everyone involved in the project on a job well done.
“I attended school here, and it has been such a privilege to visit the town again,” he said. “The inclusivity of the Braille Trail is giving the visually impaired a chance to enjoy what they were previously excluded from.
“The people who will be visiting the Braille trail will benefit richly from it.”
The Environmental interpretation officer at the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden, Lize Labuschagne, said the following in a press release by Flow Communications about the event: “The Karoo is home to some of the most spectacular plants on earth. It’s high time that everybody – whether with a disability or not – enjoys this natural splendour, learns more about the unique Karoo biome and how vulnerable and beautiful it is.”
