From the entrance, the eye is drawn into an immense vista. A long avenue in the formal French garden descends between pools, flowerbeds and palm trees in spectacular symmetry. High above, on the heights of Hamma, the Martyrs’ Memorial dominates the landscape.
Then all it takes is to leave the central avenue to discover an entirely different landscape.
In the English gardens, straight lines disappear. Paths wind, foliage filters the light, roots hang from branches and ficus trees grow to enormous proportions. In places, you forget Algiers entirely. This is no longer a garden: it is a jungle.
You can almost hear Tarzan’s famous cry.
A jungle made for cinema
And this time, the comparison is no mere fancy. In 1932, the Jardin d’Essai provided the setting for the opening sequences of W. S. Van Dyke’s Tarzan the Ape Man, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan. The great Ficus retusa associated with the filming is still there today, with its aerial roots and branches that seem to have been designed for the cinema.
A garden, many memories
Established in 1832 as an acclimatisation garden, Hamma welcomed species from several continents before becoming one of Algiers’ most distinctive places. Here, botany mingles with history, cinema and sculpture.
Around a bend in a path, Ouled Naïl dancers appear, frozen in stone amid the vegetation. They add another layer of memory to the garden, almost unexpected in this tropical setting.
The garden also has a historic zoological park, currently undergoing redevelopment. And despite all it offers, admission remains nominal: a few hundred dinars are enough to take you from the grand classical vista into the jungle, from Tarzan to the Ouled Naïl, right in the heart of Algiers.
In Algiers, it is hard to find a better place to get lost.