IOS October Meeting at The National Botanic Gardens

Challen Willemsen, Guatemalan Ecologist and Member of the IUCN SSC Orchid Specialist Group

This October we welcome back Challen Willemsen who will be presenting directly from Guatemala a talk about his trip up into the Peruvian mountains.

In November of 2023 Challen attended the 7th SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON ANDEAN ORCHIDS at the University of San Antonio Abad in Cusco Peru. Cusco lies in the south east of Peru and was the ancient capital of the Inca Empire. Situated near to the Sacred Valley of the Andes it is often the place to set off on a trip to Machu Picchu.
After the conference this is exactly what Challen did; visited Machu Picchu and went even higher up into the Andes to find orchids of all kinds in the high Andes.

He'll be relating his trip to us and as usual have a plethora of wonderful images of all his finds and places he visited in the cloud forests of Peru. This will be a fantastic night and there will be a Q&A session at the end of the night.
The presentation will be available on the night virtually and you can watch it on this page below 9links and watch button appear 15 minutes before the . If you want the link for the event, RSVP below and the link will be emailed to you.

In-Person Raffle

If you want a chance to increase your collection for only €5, on the evening we will also have our usual in person orchid raffle with tickets at €5 each. Please bring along some cash and purchase your raffle tickets at the door on your way in.

Orchid Show

Finally, after the success of our first orchid show in September We'll also have some special prizes for the best show orchids brought in on the night, so if you have any special orchids in flower, do bring them along early for judging. The lecture theatre will be open from 6:30pm for people bringing show orchids.