Butterfly Jungle

Last Friday I had the oh-so-joyful experience of getting to preview the Butterfly Jungle at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  The hubs and I had gone once before a few years back, and have always talked about wanting to go back.  I had remembered it being a magical experience, and truthfully, it was even more so than I had remembered.  If getting to pretend like you live in some sort of fairy jungle sounds like fun to you, than the Butterfly Jungle is right up your alley.

Although, before I get ahead of myself here, let me start at the beginning.  Safari Park.  Have you been?  If you live in San Diego and haven’t gone before, it is a must do!  We all know how amazing the San Diego Zoo itself is, and Safari Park is just an awesome extension of that.  Safari Park is literally just that, a safari.  A huge part of the Park looks like an African desert (although, after all of our rain, it’s no longer much of a desert) where all of the different animals live and coexist just as they would in the wild – and you can take a little tram ride through that whole area and get to experience the animals up close.  It is a really fun experience.

But if being one with the animals isn’t so much your thing, have no fear, the Park has plenty of more traditional zoo-like exhibits as well.  Between all of the different areas of the Park to visit, you can easily make a day of it.  (In fact, I think that we have been there about 3 times now, and I still don’t think that we’ve seen everything.)

But, back to my point, butterflies.  I mean, who doesn’t love butterflies?  They’re colorful, magical, fun, delicate, beautiful.  Most of us probably chased after butterflies when we were kids in hopes of catching one to sit on our hand or be our friend for the afternoon.  Well, at Butterfly Jungle, there is definitely no running or chasing required.  The room is absolutely exploding with butterflies.  And I’ll clue you in on a little secret, if you stand still for a few minutes, a beautiful little butterfly will likely flutter over and find you as its happy place to rest its wings for a bit.  But enough of me describing how amazing it is, Butterfly Jungle is best enjoyed with the eyes…

Yes, magical.  Yes, fun.  Can life really get any better than being surrounded by beautiful fluttering butterflies?  I don’t think so.  And although I’m sadly not able to create my own butterfly room at home (the hubby wasn’t too fond of that idea), I will happily take an afternoon at the Butterfly Jungle any day.