A Jungle in the Middle of Sarasota

Eldo and Sparky had a visit this past month from Eldo's daughter and grandson...We decided to go visit Sarasota's Jungle Gardens while they were here. Sparky had always wanted to go, but thought it was your typical tourist trap, dated, and not all that interesting. Today, she decided to check it out with family to see if her perceptions were accurate, and was glad she did! It's a cool place!

Although it has been open since 1939, Sarasota Jungle Gardens has been updated and refreshed to stay current. It has a wonderful, jungle like atmosphere--10 acres of lush tropical landscaping, free roaming flamingoes, a gift shop, a playground, and a cafe. The paver walkways are beautifully landscaped with over 3,000 different species of trees and shrubs. There are rustic little bridges over lagoons so the scenery is gorgeous as you walk along the paths thru the gardens.

There are mini shows on the premises that last about 20 minutes and they are very entertaining, funny, and informative. There is a reptile show, a jungle bird show, and a wildlife wonder show. You can stop by after the shows and pet or hold birds, snakes, reptiles or alligators and lizards.  Ewwwww.....no thank you! says Sparky. But somebody would love that!

There are LOTS of exhibits...Here is a list:

• Jungle Experience Studio
• Tiki Gardens
• Butterfly Gardens--(from February to summer, butterflies are migrating thru FL)
• Bird Interaction Area
• Alligator/Crocodile Exhibits
• Reptile World
• Birds of Prey

Semi private walkabout tours are available besides the usual walk through, and there are events and promotions going on all year.  Current price of admission in spring 2017 was 17.99 for adults, children 4-16 was 12.99. Hours are 10-5 PM daily. the parking lot is small and fills up fast, but you can park across the street in overfill parking at a church across the street.

Sparky LOVED the jungle birds and the flamingoes.

She always thought flamingoes were kind of ugly in photos, but once you see them in person, they are one of the coolest looking birds!

You can walk right up to them and feed them at the Jungle Gardens. Some of the parents were not closely supervising the feeding, and at one point a small child got pecked by the bird's beak, and started to cry. There was one other instance where a little toddler was scared to death by a flamingo walking up to him. The look of terror on his face made the adults laugh, but seeing a tall flamingo walk up to you as a two year old would be a very terrifying experience!

This little kid was trying to see into one of the pond areas where turtles were walking around....It's a great place to take your children or grandchildren. It really wasn't all that cold out, but maybe this is to a little local guy from FL. Sixties is very cool to Florida natives, lol.

You see all kinds of wildlife here in the gardens, some intentionally displayed and some not. This was an unusual looking spider to us, and it just happened to be on a web between some trees as we were walking.....

Overall, it was a wonderful experience to be at the Sarasota Jungle Gardens today...We highly recommend visiting this marvelous place, and Eldo's 11 year old grandson thoroughly enjoyed it, as did his mom and Sparky.