douceur vivre: April 2017

Our family decided to make the trek to preview the new Hidden Butterfly Jungle* exhibit at the San Diego Safari Park. Since it was our first time to the Safari Park, we were so excited that we forgot to grab a map at the entrance, and had a bit of a difficult time navigating the location of the Inner Jungle, as there weren’t a lot of signs leading to the Inner Jungle. However, the staff were all very friendly, and directed us towards the right direction.

When we arrived at the entrance, we were each handed a butterfly guide with photos of the various types of butterflies inside. As we stepped through the double doors, we were transported into a magical rainforest greenhouse full of vibrant foliage, flowers and of course, butterflies. Our kids have been really into caterpillars and butterflies lately, so they were ecstatic to see the large amount of butterflies fluttering around-- especially the larger, exotic species that we typically don’t see around here. We spotted several large Common Blue Morphos, Giant Owls (they really do look like owls, and camouflage so well with the branches!), Rusty-Tipped Pages and several more. JJ was also intrigued by all the ladybugs crawling about, while the younger one was into chasing the butterflies that were crawling on the floor, or swooping in front of his face at eye-level. We also had some opportunities with butterflies landing on the kids’ hats and backs, but the moment was so quick that we missed most of the photo-ops!

Some helpful tips:

- Wear bright, bold colors and patterns to attract the butterflies

- Tell your children to stand still for a possible butterfly landing!

- Head to the exhibit early on in the day, as there may be less people

- Strollers need to be parked outside, so plan on wearing any children that are not yet mobile

- Bring a camera with a fast shutter lens to capture the butterflies landing on you or the children!

Some photos we captured of these beauties!