Having seen several butterflies around Monteverde, including the hugely impressive Blue Morpho, we were inspired to visit the butterfly gardens. The guided tour starts with insects and spiders, the first being this tarantula.
Next our guide eagerly tells us that we are in luck as we get to witness a mother scorpion carrying her babies on her back.
We then got to hold some stick and leaf insects. My brief insect holding bravery is soon eclipsed as the guide puts a cockroach in her mouth. I however do manage to hold it but I don’t think it’s going to be replacing the hamster any time soon.
Next we pay a visit to some seriously big and impressive beetles.
Last stop on the insect tour is a cabinet contained a huge variety of butterfly chrysalis. Luckily a few butterflies have hatched and we are each given a butterfly to take to the gardens.
We then released the butterflies. My butterfly sat on my finger preparing for its first ever flight. Leanne panicked and dropped hers on the floor almost ending the butterfly’s life before it had a chance to fly.
Luckily no butterflies were damaged during the incident.
The tour continued through three separate butterfly gardens.
The butterfly’s danced around us. The variety was amazing.
And we practiced some photography.
We really enjoyed the butterfly garden and the guide was extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable which really added to the experience.
