Fluttering in Flight
It’s not every day that you can walk into a room and be surrounded by hundreds of fluttering, flittering butterflies as their delicate wings nearly brush your face and if you’re just lucky enough – to have one gently land on your shoulder to rest. In an ultimate celebration of Spring, the annual Butterfly Jungle event at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park invites guests to experience the light-hearted wonder of over 30 species of gorgeous butterflies as they gently flutter around the climate controlled Hidden Jungle Aviary. We were invited as members of the media, all opinions are my own.
30 different species of beautiful
The more than 30 butterfly species highlighted this year are from Africa, Asia, Central and South America and include the zebra longwing, orange-barred tiger, Grecian shoemaker, monarch, giant swallowtail and blue morpho. I can’t even properly describe to you how amazing it is to step in to the Hidden Jungle Aviary and see nothing but thousands of butterflies flying in the air, it is truly breathtakingly beautiful.
Tips To Get A Butterfly To Land On You
Getting a butterfly to land on you may be your ultimate goal, I mean, it does make for a great picture. We have created amazing and useful tips to ensure butterfly contact.
- Wear bright, solid colors. Butterflies LOVE: Orange, Yellow and Red.
- Stand Still
That’s it! Crazy easy right? There are so many butterflies in the Hidden Jungle during the Butterfly Jungle event that you are almost guaranteed a butterfly encounter whether you want one or not!
Priority Butterfly Viewing
The Butterfly Jungle is open daily and is included with admission to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. New this year is “priority butterfly viewing” – for a nominal fee you can visit the Butterfly Jungle without the wait. Inquire at Lorikeet Landing ticket booth for price but hurry because priority time slots do sell out, so check back throughout the day if you don’t want to wait!
Get in the Butterfly Spirit
Pick up a tasty butterfly-themed treat, like a butterfly decorated cupcake or fudge, at restaurants near Butterfly Jungle. Just adjacent to the Hidden Jungle Aviary is a cart full of really awesome butterfly inspired souvenirs to take home to celebrate the spring butterfly spirit longer. We picked up a few of the gorgeous butterfly wings for $25 a piece. My youngest son got a giant green lizard because he’s two years old and that’s what he wanted (haha).
Some Things To Know Before You Go
- Go Early
The Hidden Jungle Aviary is a climate controlled aviary and it can be rather humid. When we have visited the Butterfly Jungle we have visited in the early morning hours (before 9am), I assume that as the day goes on and the sun is right overhead that the inside temperature of the Hidden Jungle Aviary will only rise. - Bring a baby carrier
Strollers are not permitted in to the Butterfly Jungle, so I advise bringing a baby carrier unless you want spaghetti arms the next day like mine after carrying around my chunkamunka for over an hour inside the Butterfly Jungle. - Watch Your Step!
The butterflies like to land where they please and sometimes they please to land right on the walkway so watch your step! - There are several checkpoints to get out
To ensure you have no hidden stowaways before you depart the Butterfly Jungle you are kindly asked to go through a few checkpoints where a friendly staff member asks you to raise your hands and spin. This has to be done individually and I accidentally went first and my 3 older kids were scared. - Bring a shami to clean your camera lens
Since the Butterfly Jungle is climate controlled and rather humid you’ll need to clean your lens a few times - Take lots of pictures and video!
It is such a cool magical experience that you’ll want lots of memories of it!
I just came across this little video from The Guardian, since there were several media outlets at the preview we happened to be in the scenes of a few! Let me know if you can spot us 😉
Butterfly Jungle – Hidden Jungle Aviary
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
15500 San Pasqual Valley Road
Escondido, CA 92027
March 14th – April 12th
More Information
I caught you and the children several times in the video !! Woot Woot !
This looks like an amazing experience, I love butterflies. Your photos are stunning by the way 🙂