Founded by Francis & Louis Scherr, Parrot Jungle opened its doors to a small group of 100 visitors on December 20th 1936. Visitors were able to enjoy a zoo like experience alongside Francis Scherr giving a talk about his birds, trees and flowers for only 25 cents, what a deal! Since then, the park has changed its name to Jungle Island and found a new home on Watson Island reopening as a new and improved Eco-adventure park for kids of all ages. The park now hosts many animals from around the world along with a mini water park, Super flight an outdoor wind tunnel, read more about my flying experience here!
How to get to Jungle Island
Jungle Island is conveniently located near downtown Miami on the causeway towards South Beach, open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm, closing on Mondays and Tuesdays. Tickets can be purchased in advance online or in person for the day. You can opt for general admission or a VIP experience which gives you exclusive up close exclusive access to some animals and a knowledgeable personal guide, I definitely recommended selecting this option to get an in depth experience!
If you are a South Florida resident, check the website regularly for fun and exciting events during the holiday season like Zombie Laser tag, just in time for Halloween! Parking is available within the Jungle Island garage for US$10, there is a public lot near the water front but it is a bit more expensive at US$15.
Things to Do at Jungle Island
When arriving at Jungle Island we estimated it would take only a few hours to just walk around and check out a few animals but guess what, we ended up spending an entire day! There really is so much to do for adults and kids here, block out your day to make sure you can experience it all. Within the park you’ll see flamingos, a variety of monkey’s, orangutans, and a wide variety of birds. We didn’t get a chance to do everything but below are a few things we enjoyed, check them out on your next visit!
Lemur Experience
Just like the movie, these cute, cuddly Lemurs came all the way from Madagascar! Located right inside the gift shop, you can book an up front and personal experience with these amazing animals whether you’re visiting the park for the day or not. Tickets for this experience must be purchased separately.
Right before entering, one of the park rangers told us that the Lemurs tend to migrate more to females and boy they were true! From the moment they were let out of the cage the Lemurs flocked right towards me! Surprisingly their feet were super smooth and soft, like a baby! These animals aren’t aggressive at all, they are actually quite playful, so there’s no reason to be scared. The park ranger mentioned that we weren’t allowed to move around much and had to sit in one position but did allow us to bring our phones to take some photos, thought these guys don’t sit still! Watch out, the Lemur can pee on you, our friend Roger had the pleasure of that experience. The bright side? He’s got some good luck on his side now!
Kangaroos
Until now, I’d never actually seen any Kangaroos in real life! Luckily for me there were 3 of these cute animals at the park, originally from Australia. We caught them during their napping hour, but were able to walk inside, pet them and learn a little more about their daily routines!
We also caught a guy laying down and pulling out all the stops to get a photo with these guys, anything for the gram!
Water Park
The kids certainly seemed to enjoy this section of the park, jumping and sliding around on large blow up water slides. If only we knew about this sooner, we would have gotten into the action ourselves! Who doesn’t love a good day at the water park?!
Baby Goats
Within the park you’ll find tons of animals to not just see but actually interact with including baby goats. Park rangers will give you a bottle of milk to feed these hungry little animals!
Turtles
Very few of the original park animals are still at the park, however, on your way to the baby goats you will find tortoises that are over 100 years old! One of them being at the park since it opened in 1936. They don’t do much and walk around pretty slowly, but these giant turtles are certainly something to see!
Bird Show
Touted as one of the “best things to do” in the park, the bird show happens around mid-day. We were told not to miss this, but unfortunately did just that with our Lemur experience running over time! Try to coordinate your day better than we did, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed! If you miss out on the bird show, you can always visit a few of the parrots at the park entrance, look out for Nevada she is 70 years old!
Nerf Gun Experience
Similar to paint ball, you can jump into a Nerf gun game! Check this out near the Flamingos, kids and adults can enjoy this together.
Want to see more about our experience at Jungle Island and Super Flight? Checkout this vLog by Roger B Stillz, follow me on Instagram and checkout my stories!
