Thursday, December 3, 2009

Ryugujo Butterfly Garden

I've been excited to visit the Ryugujo Butterfly Garden up north in Nago for quite some time now, and I'm glad we finally did! While the park isn't too large, and there's not much to do there beside walk through the butterfly house and take a stroll through the gardens to get some amazing views, we had a fun time and got some great photos, too (I busted out my DSLR, of course!). I'm not a fan of winged creatures in general (especially birds - I'm sure most of you know this, haha!), so I wasn't sure how much I would like being "swarmed" (as the brochure put it) by hundreds of butterflies. However, it was actually a lot of fun, and I don't feel like we were being swarmed at all - more like we were chasing after them the whole time!

The garden is really that - a garden. When you enter, they supply you with red umbrellas to take along with you. Supposedly, the butterflies are attracted to red, so it makes them more likely to come to you. We had heard about this theory before heading up there, so I came dressed appropriately in my red shirt:) You walk along the marked out paths, enjoying the flowers, views and occasional butterfly that you see along the way. You don't see too many until you reach the butterfly house. Inside the house there are butterflies everywhere! Some are flying around, but most are just hanging out and doing their own thing. They had put red baseball caps perched on posts to attract the butterflies, and they were doing an incredible job! The hats were completely covered! I almost have suspicions that they sprayed something on the hats to attract them as well - a kind of butterfly catnip perhaps??



Entry to the park


View of the East China Sea from the park




Me with my camera and red umbrella



















Check out this video from the butterfly house (the song in the background - I feel like this is playing everywhere we go in Okinawa!):




Matt with his red headband he made to attract the butterflies (not a red shirt like the rest of us - a red headband)








Some tombs... sounds weird, but they are everywhere here in Okinawa


A cool bridge we passed on the way to the park


Hope you enjoyed the photos!

-C

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