The Eden Project
Tiers of car parking means that only the earlier visitors escape a fair walk to the entrance area, but a park-and-ride bus service is laid on. Situated in a huge quarry amphitheatre, as it is, it was necessary to go to the lip of the car park to catch a first glimpse of the biomes. Colourful plants and banners create a positive feeling.
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19th August 2001
From the entrance the site falls away towards the floor of the old China Clay pit. Created during the wettest winter for forty years, the pumps could not cope with the flow at one stage. Some planting is still going on, such as along the rank of steps on the left of this picture, and, of course, there is much growing to do before anything like maturity is achieved. Trains take visitors down most of the way
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Massive air-conditioning units dominate the entrance of the Warm Temperate Biome. A great deal of technology is (mostly) unobtrusively operating to maintain the site. Graded terraces lessen the effort of climbing up or down, and make the quarry sides attractive
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The Humid Tropics Biome
This dome, or parts of four domes linked together, is huge and is really the main item for most people at the Eden Project. The available area is divided up into different world areas; this being the Oceanic Islands, near the entrance.
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Soon the heat and humidity become apparent, and one passes an authentic Malay home, with appropriate vegetables out the back!
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The centre crop is rice,
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Growing papaya, just beyond the Malay house.
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19th August 2001
Another view of the Malay house, with only a few struts of the dome to give away its true location! The cliff is quarry face stabilised with rockcrete mix.
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19th August 2001
Crop varieties in the area devoted to West Africa. The soils are specially manufactured and imported to the site, so there are no bugs. Lizards, frogs, butterflies, and a few birds are probably going to be the limit to tropical wildlife allowed in officially. The butterflies will not be breeding in case they eat too much!
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Looking back from the dome's highpoint, across the waterfall towards the tropical South America collection.
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As one descends from the waterfall an area of commercial tropical crops appears, from banana to rubber.
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This is growing sugar cane.
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The Warm Temperate Biome
In the Warm Temperate Biome are crops associated with the savanna areas, such as the Sahel, such as millet, here.
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Space is more evident here as this biome is much less dominant than the fast-growing humid tropical plants, and never will be as lush, of course.
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Sorghum growing strongly a metre or so along the path from the millet crop.
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Group tours were more easily spotted in the open space of the Warm Temperate Biome.
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A good deal of sculpture has been introduced into the areas surrounding the domes .. and events and displays are inside colourful yurts. Care is taken to entertain people who might be queuing.
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The following were taken from the land-train, ferrying visitors back up the entrance area.
The Warm Temperate Biome. The Biome link, which is turf-covered in-between the domes, houses restaurants and toilets.
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The Eden Project spread out almost in its entirety. A concern of Cornish folk music entertains lunch-time listeners, and the widespread use of colourful flags add movement in the wind.
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a wider shot of the Warm temperate Biome, showing the access routes up to the entrance area.
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click here for a link to the Eden Project