Jardin Botanique Harrison Smith

Having already made a previous visit to Tahiti, Harrison Willard Smith, a 37 year old American, arrived in Papeari where he knew he would find a suitable soil and climate for creating a tropical garden. From 1920 to 1925, he set about purchasing the land on which he would establish the domaine of Motu Ovini (Wild islet). A total area of 137 hectares on which he gradually planted hundreds of different varieties of flowers, plants and exotic trees which he brought over from the American continent, Asia and Africa. The Harrison Smith botanical garden requested the status of a protected site in 1964, but this wasn't granted. A further unfruitful request was made in 1999. The garden slowly went into disrepair until, in 2017, management of the garden was taken over by the Service du Tourism and the site was renovated and restored to its former glory.