02/04/2023
Sam Popham's Arboretum Dambulla | If you love trees? Must visit place in Sri Lanka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlxTyxv5Oto&t=4s
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Mr. F.H. Sam Popham was born on the 29th of February 1923. He first came to Sri Lanka as a young British Naval Officer during the Second World War. Based in Trincomalee, he would often travel through Dambulla admiring the forest vegetation on either side of the Dambulla-Bakamuna road. Back home in England after the war, Sam became a schoolmaster for a while, before returning to Sri Lanka a few years later as a Tea Planter. His love for trees, made him give up planting tea and assume responsibility as the Smithsonian Institute’s Principal Field Officer in the ‘Flora of Ceylon ‘project. In 1963, he bought seven and a half acres of scrub jungle in Dambulla and commenced his life’s most important work. That is, to endow us with a beautiful arboretum full of wild vegetation. This arboretum was gifted to the Institute of Fundamental Studies, Kandy In 1989. The arboretum now has 34.5 acres with the addition of 27 acres in 1989
Mr. F.H. Sam Popham was born on the 29th of February 1923. He first came to Sri Lanka as a young British Naval Officer during the Second World War. Based in ...
