What a hidden gem we found!
This one plus Bios were on my list to visit because I hadn't been to either of them. I'm trying to start crossing off all the things that I have wondered about but haven't done yet. We still didn't get Bios done because of car trouble, but this one is really worth a visit.
It's about a 40 minute drive from Naha.
It is in Okinawa City- not far from the big new Rycom Mall.
The tickets are reasonably priced at just over 1000 yen per person- with a deal if you decide to do the buffet lunch too. We had just eaten with Sensei so didn't need to do the lunch.
It's about a 40 minute drive from Naha.
It is in Okinawa City- not far from the big new Rycom Mall.
The tickets are reasonably priced at just over 1000 yen per person- with a deal if you decide to do the buffet lunch too. We had just eaten with Sensei so didn't need to do the lunch.
The gardens are split into two sections- The first is a maze of trees and is much quieter than the big main section. We went over there first but only stayed for around 20 minutes there.
Then we went over to the bigger part. I think we went around it a bit backwards but it really didn't matter.
The first thing we saw was all the staff putting up all the lights for when they will do evening illuminations of thousands of lights- If you are there at a time of year that they are doing that- staying until the evening when they light it up where possible would very likely be well worth it.
After that we came across some scary looking ducks who seemed to really like eating the fish food. We fed them a little and then continued on the journey to find the goats.
I like to feed the goats- although they have scary eyes- Habu sensei always made it really fun to feed his goats, they're pretty cute really and will eat basically anything and everything.
After the Goat Island, we found the monkey and capybara pen.
After the Monkey, we had the rabbit and Tortoise section. There was Guinea Pigs there too. I really liked feeding the Tortoise.
We found the 'Dragon Blood' trees- which sap is bright red which is why it was given the name apparently. But there was no sap when we were there.
It was really really good- but the birds did make me a little nervous. I'm not sure why because I've always thought my spirit animal is a heron. I still think it is. Not a tufty headed one, just a regular white one that lives in the wild.
After the Birds section, you carry on walking and you make it to the area where you can colour in a giant plastic cow. I'm not really sure of the significance of this but it's there, if you want to spend some time doing this.
Then you reach the pigs! This was fun. There was one black piggy that was really hungry- the rest were sleeping. He was basically like a dog- standing up on the fence and wagging his tail when he got some cabbage!
The lake/ Pond and beautiful bridge is after this. In this area you can catch a fish (and release it again)
This of course will take time- it recommends at least an hour for the fish catching activity- but if you have the whole day it would be really fun to do. As just a side note- the cow painting and the catching a fish has separate extra charge, so does feeding all the animals. Just about 100 yen per food for the animals and a few hundred for the other ones. But it all adds up. We probably at least doubled the cost of entrance feeding all the animals. Maybe we got a bit over excited but it's definately worth the extra coins.
We wandered across the bridge and up to the ridge road - you can walk along and have a beautiful view of the park and see lots of different flowers.
The buffet restaurant looks out over the park from up here too. We didn't go in there so I couldn't tell you how it was. Looked nice though.
The Ice cream they sell in the gift shop isn't Blue Seal, but it is good. I had the strawberry and Sensei went for shiquasa.
The first thing we saw was all the staff putting up all the lights for when they will do evening illuminations of thousands of lights- If you are there at a time of year that they are doing that- staying until the evening when they light it up where possible would very likely be well worth it.
After that we came across some scary looking ducks who seemed to really like eating the fish food. We fed them a little and then continued on the journey to find the goats.
I like to feed the goats- although they have scary eyes- Habu sensei always made it really fun to feed his goats, they're pretty cute really and will eat basically anything and everything.
After the Goat Island, we found the monkey and capybara pen.
This was fun, the monkeys jumped all over you to get the food you had and the capybara was the most chilled giant rat- porcupine looking thing I'd ever seen.
After the Monkey, we had the rabbit and Tortoise section. There was Guinea Pigs there too. I really liked feeding the Tortoise.
We found the 'Dragon Blood' trees- which sap is bright red which is why it was given the name apparently. But there was no sap when we were there.
The dragon trees were right outside the bird enclosure.
Little did I expect to be walking into a cage full of Peacocks, Flamingos, Big long beaked birds and a tufty headed Heron. You could take the food from the closed cupboard (and pay your money into the box) and just go ahead and feed them- the flamingos weren't interested though.
It was really really good- but the birds did make me a little nervous. I'm not sure why because I've always thought my spirit animal is a heron. I still think it is. Not a tufty headed one, just a regular white one that lives in the wild.
After the Birds section, you carry on walking and you make it to the area where you can colour in a giant plastic cow. I'm not really sure of the significance of this but it's there, if you want to spend some time doing this.
Then you reach the pigs! This was fun. There was one black piggy that was really hungry- the rest were sleeping. He was basically like a dog- standing up on the fence and wagging his tail when he got some cabbage!
The lake/ Pond and beautiful bridge is after this. In this area you can catch a fish (and release it again)
This of course will take time- it recommends at least an hour for the fish catching activity- but if you have the whole day it would be really fun to do. As just a side note- the cow painting and the catching a fish has separate extra charge, so does feeding all the animals. Just about 100 yen per food for the animals and a few hundred for the other ones. But it all adds up. We probably at least doubled the cost of entrance feeding all the animals. Maybe we got a bit over excited but it's definately worth the extra coins.
We wandered across the bridge and up to the ridge road - you can walk along and have a beautiful view of the park and see lots of different flowers.
The buffet restaurant looks out over the park from up here too. We didn't go in there so I couldn't tell you how it was. Looked nice though.
The Ice cream they sell in the gift shop isn't Blue Seal, but it is good. I had the strawberry and Sensei went for shiquasa.
The gift shop itself was pretty standard, a few nice touristy things for sale, but nothing that's really unique.
There is quite a lot of craft options available at the Gardens though which is cool. You can do the cow painting, shisa and ornament painting, sand art and there's more too- I'm just not very good at describing it.
There is quite a lot of craft options available at the Gardens though which is cool. You can do the cow painting, shisa and ornament painting, sand art and there's more too- I'm just not very good at describing it.
I really enjoyed our time here and it really wasn't very busy at all.
I hope I can make it back before the illuminations end.
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