Tropical Butterflies at South Coast Botanic Garden’s SOAR

If you read my previous post, you already know that I visited the South Coast Botanic Garden. In addition to going “egg hunting” on the grounds of the garden, I went there to specifically see their tropical butterfly exhibit called SOAR. There’s an additional fee to visit this exhibit but it’s worth it if you want to see exotic butterflies up close.

The downside with this exhibit though is that you need to be very cautious when you’re walking because a butterfly or two could very well be “sunbathing” for vitamins on the ground. The staff are also always on the lookout for a potential butterfly escapee whenever an attendee enters and exits the exhibit.

Since I was looking forward to this exhibit, I made sure it was the first thing I did at the South Coast Botanic Garden. Of course, you cannot just enter the exhibit on a whim since the exhibit is a timed event and needs to purchased in advance.

The exhibit transported me into another world. A tropical butterfly’s world. Butterflies featured inside the exhibit include the birdwing butterfly, tiger longwing, gulf fritillary, gold rum swallowtail, forest giant owl, rusted tipped page, golden longwing, starry night cracker, Mexican blue wave, queen butterfly, glasswing butterfly, orange tiger butterfly, blue frosted banner, paper kite butterfly, orange barred sulfur, malachite butterfly, jazzy leafwing, orange oakleaf, cattleheart butterfly and ruby spotted swallowtail.

I loved being able to see so many of them flutter about inside the exhibit.

However, what I loved most was how one butterfly decided to stay with me throughout the bulk of my time in the exhibit.

It was a magical experience and I don’t think anyone but one staff member noticed it being on me.

I learned from the staff member that this particular butterfly was a bit older and you could tell it’s age based on its somewhat tattered wings. (I had no idea that their wings could get tattered like so just from aging.)

If you plan on visiting the South Coast Botanic Garden, I recommend spending extra money just to experience this exhibit. It’s worth it and allows you to temporarily enter a magical world.