Eco-tourism opportunities for travelers

“This garden is a beautiful, planted hectare botanical garden—one of the only in the world that has healing plants."

Step into Tonga’s lush Eneio Botanical Gardens—one of the world’s rare botanical spaces dedicated to healing plants and cultural storytelling. In this week’s episode of The Ageless Traveler, we travel to Tonga to explore a hidden sanctuary rich with cultural symbolism, ancient healing plants, and ecological purpose.

The Gardens were founded by Haniteli Faanuno, whose vision was to create a living archive of Tonga’s indigenous flora. Today, under the leadership of CEO Lucy Faanunu, the Gardens house more than 20,000 plants, including medicinal species historically used by early Tongans and brought across the Pacific during migration.

Lucy shares how the Gardens intertwine culture, conservation, and education—from the Heilala, Tonga’s state flower, to endangered plant species preserved through global botanical partnerships. She also discusses the challenges of sustainability and the importance of community-based fundraising to maintain this vital space.

For travelers interested in eco-tourism, cultural immersion, or nature with meaning, the Eneio Botanical Gardens offer more than scenic beauty—they tell the story of Tonga itself.

Listen to the full episode and discover how you can support botanical preservation in the South Pacific.

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Eneio Botanical Gardens