Josh’s family owns a hotel, brewery & butterfly garden in Costa Rica. Our last year there, my primary role was managing the garden and providing tours. Here’s my top 5 tips for enjoying butterfly gardens around the world.
1. Stay Calm.
If a butterfly keeps flying in close to you, there’s a good chance it could be coaxed into landing on you! Just stay very still and be patient! That’s how this beautiful Paper Kite and I became friends on our first visit to the Taipei Zoo.
2. Go on a treasure hunt.
Don’t forget butterfly gardens are (usually) actual gardens where the butterflies’ entire life cycle is happening. Notice the plants! Can you find any that have been munched on? There could be some fuzzy pre-butterflies hiding in there – try to spot them!
3. Check the display boxes
Look to see if there’s a display of current chrysalises, suspended & waiting for their magical moment of emergence. If you’re lucky you might catch the a caterpillar turning into a chrysalis, a butterfly emerging or hanging and drying its brand new wings.
4. Timing is everything
If possible go in the morning between 8am -11am. First thing in the morning is your best chance for seeing butterflies emerging. And mornings also tend to be butterflies most active time of day.
5.Ask Questions!
If you have the opportunity to talk to someone who is working at butterfly garden do it! Not all butterflies gardens provide this (the day we were at the Taipei zoo we didn’t have this option) but many, like ours, do. Ask the workers to help you spot some butterfly eggs (those are particularly hard to find on your own!) and ask them if they have some favorite interesting facts about the caterpillars & butterflies they care for (for example some caterpillars have these horn like things that suddenly appear out of their heads when they are upset & they spray a fowl smelling liquid to detract predators)
Of course most importantly just have fun and enjoy it at the pace you want – whether that means stopping every other step to take pictures and look under leaves or just doing a brisk walk through to catch a quick glimpse of what butterflies are local to the area. It’s all good. Just don’t run or try to grab at the butterflies 😛