Visiting the animals in aruba

On a recent 10 day land trip to Aruba, we got the opportunity to visit several of the animal places there.

Some you can easily get to on your own and others, I would suggest a tour to go there.

OSTRICH FARM

I wasn't quite sure how I would feel about going to see Ostriches ONLY because we had previously went to Philips Animal Garden and there were Ostriches there. So how can visiting a place with just ostriches be any better? Well I was wrong! This place was absolutely amazing and I had the best time here! I think out of all the animal places we went, this was probably my favorite.

The Ostrich Farm is open from 9-4pm and admission is $12 per adult and $6 for children.

We found this place (by mistake) when we were out looking at other things one day and back tracked our steps on how to get back there the following day. Well needless to say...we messed up...several times. We messed up so bad that we somehow did a complete circle and ended right back up where we began about 45 minutes later. Finally we stopped to ask which way to go (unsuccessful the first 2 times) and then we arrived. (Getting back is easy, just getting there was confusing).

This is a guided tour by a very knowledge and very FUNNY tour guide. He spoke to us prior to the tour and got to know us and told us a lot of information about the place (not the ostriches) and we loved every minute of it. Our tour consisted of us 3 and another couple, who didn't really seem to engage in conversation too much.

Our tour guide took us around the "farm" and told us a lot of interesting facts about both the ostriches and emu's. We seen the life stages of an ostrich from a male who had dug his nest and was awaiting a female, to eggs already laid and how the staff collects them, to the incubator, after hatching, then to the pens before going out with the rest of them. We were showed the difference in their feathers according to their age. It was just so interesting and although if someone told me these things were what I was going to hear and learn about, I would think oh boring but he kept our attention at all times...well, until my daughter spotted several peacocks and off she went (her favorite bird).

I have to say feeding the ostriches was such a great time and we laughed and laughed. There was a photographer there to take your picture and most times I do not purchase things like this because we take our own (and a lot of them), but they put it in the cutest frame and...truth be told, when we remodeled one of our rooms at home, my daughter decided she wanted a "bird" theme (trust me, it's not as tacky as it sounds) and I knew these pictures would perfectly fit in with that room.

It was a great tour and one of my favorites. I HIGHLY recommend it!

HERE ARE MY PICTURES

THE BUTTERFLY FARM

My 9 year old LOVES animals and butterflies (she knows more about them than I do and can tell you entire life cycle and knows a lot of the different types of butterflies). We have a butterfly exhibit once a year here at home and she really enjoys going there and spending time with the butterflies and while we were in Aruba, we passed this place, going to the beach, and she shouted that she just HAD to go there. So go there we did!

This place is located on one of the main roads, just down the street from Eagle Beach, in the Palm Beach area, and very easy to get to. The cost is $15 per person (but they charged less for our daughter for some reason). They are open from 8:30am until 4:30pm. Parking is free.

When we arrived, we paid our admission and they told us to walk inside and wait for the "tour" to start. I was thinking...oh geesh, I don't want a tour, I just want to explore on my own. So we walked in an looked around in the area we were told to wait in. There were butterflies all over the place and very beautiful. Then the "tour" began. It wasn't actually a "tour", it was a person talking to us (in a group) about the butterflies, their life cycle, and showing us caterpillars, eggs, cocoons and butterflies. He gave some very interesting facts and information and I was happy that this was part of the "tour". Then he set us free to explore on our own.

There were so many beautiful butterflies and many "drunken" males butterflies. We had a blast! My daughter didn't want to leave! There is also a pond with huge koi fish in it.

There is a gift shop and also restrooms in the building.

I highly recommend this place for a stop when visiting Aruba.

PICTURES ARE LOCATED HERE

PHILIPS ANIMAL GARDEN

My 9 year old is an animal freak and would do just about anything to be around animals as much as she could. After discovering that Philips Animal Garden was somewhat of a "mini-zoo", I knew we had to go there.

Philips Animal Garden is open from 9-5pm and the cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children. They give you a bag of cut carrots (per person) to feed "only the animals with 4 legs please".

This place is located in Alto Vista (near the Chapel). We had a fun time getting lost everywhere we went and it brought nothing but laughter and jokes the entire 10 days we were there. Today wouldn't be any different. No matter how many times I studies the google earth map prior to leaving, without an actual map of Aruba with us and no street signs/names...then the lack of signage...you're bound to get lost. However, it's super easy to navigate and sooner or later you'll find everything and manged to stumble upon things you weren't even looking for: SCORE! Once we located a sign that said "Philips Animal Garden", it put smiles on our faces because we were surprising our daughter with what we were doing that day.

I knew that it wasn't a big place (and someone's house I believe?) and that it didn't take long to look at everything. However, I was pleasantly surprised with just how big it was. I didn't picture it to be this big or this nice actually. It's very nicely laid out and landscaped and I also noticed that they do more than just the animal farm and also do things like tours as well (of Aruba, not the animals).

The animals were cool to interact with and we all 3 loved this place. While it might not take very long to walk along and look at all the animals, I'm pretty sure we probably stayed longer than most. I'm guessing maybe 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours we were there. We took our time. Both my daughter and I were busy taking pictures. We really enjoyed it.

I highly suggest checking this place out if you are an animal lover (both children and adults) and you want a different experience than you would get going to a zoo.

CLICK HERE FOR MY PICTURES.

Did you go to the donkey sanctuary. The donkeys run wild and you can feed them carrots. When I went it was free to go in and it cost $1.00 for the carrots, but not sure how many you got. It was a lot of fun. We were all adults with no children or grandchildren with us. I'm glad your daughter had a great time at the sites you visited. I've been going to Aruba for over 30 years and love what they have done so kids can enjoy sightseeing.

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Kim,

Thanks for your reviews! We're in Aruba from 7-6 in November and we're now looking at doing the Ostrich Farm and a beach stop. My wife is also an animal lover, so reading your reviews made me realize she will love it here! We're RC cruisers ourselves but I love your in-depth reviews and look forward to the next one!

Did you go to the donkey sanctuary. The donkeys run wild and you can feed them carrots. When I went it was free to go in and it cost $1.00 for the carrots, but not sure how many you got. It was a lot of fun. We were all adults with no children or grandchildren with us. I'm glad your daughter had a great time at the sites you visited. I've been going to Aruba for over 30 years and love what they have done so kids can enjoy sightseeing.

 

 

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We tried every time we were out that way to find it without success. It was the one place I had on my list to go to that we didn't make it to. I will be back to Aruba and I will find it one way or another. :) At least we did get to see the donkeys running wild on the streets (and goats too).

Kim,

 

Thanks for your reviews! We're in Aruba from 7-6 in November and we're now looking at doing the Ostrich Farm and a beach stop. My wife is also an animal lover, so reading your reviews made me realize she will love it here! We're RC cruisers ourselves but I love your in-depth reviews and look forward to the next one!

Thanks for your comments and glad you enjoy the reviews. We had a blast at the Ostrich farm. It was so much fun feeding them.

We almost did the Oasis this December with our neighbors, but ended up booking another Carnival again for November. One day I'll be back on RC.

U looks like you had a great time visiting the animals! I expected to see Sakari making a few animal friends, but it looked like your hubby got in on the action, too? :D

I'm sure we will go visit some of these guys once we schedule a land trip to Aruba. I'm building up a nice file for our future Aruba land trip. :cool:

U looks like you had a great time visiting the animals! I expected to see Sakari making a few animal friends, but it looked like your hubby got in on the action, too? :D

 

I'm sure we will go visit some of these guys once we schedule a land trip to Aruba. I'm building up a nice file for our future Aruba land trip. :cool:

Yep, Sakari gets her love for animals from her dad. He's obsessed with any animal that has any slight potential to be brought home and cared for. ;p

Really enjoyed your review and photos. We like animal adventures where ever we go!

Really enjoyed your review and photos. We like animal adventures where ever we go!

Thank you and glad you enjoyed it. There is also a donkey sanctuary that we did not make it to this time around.

Hi, thanks both of you for your post on visiting animals sites in Aruba.

Are drivers available for a day tour to these sites? We are not good at getting lost..ok we are good at getting lost, but don't have the luxury of ten days.

Thanks,

Ann

Hi, thanks both of you for your post on visiting animals sites in Aruba.

Are drivers available for a day tour to these sites? We are not good at getting lost..ok we are good at getting lost, but don't have the luxury of ten days.

Thanks,

 

Ann

If you are going there by cruise ship, on limited time, I wouldn't recommend trying to get lost on your own there. ;p Check out DePalm Tours. They do a lot of tours in Aruba from going by jeeps, dune buggy, or tour bus...depending on where you want to go. I'm sure there are other tour operators, but I'm just not personally aware of them and I'm only aware of DePalm because they are EVERYWHERE you go and it's all you ever see.

Do you think we could do the butterfly farm and then go to Palm Beach for the rest of the day. It's look just cross the street from the beach?

Do you think we could do the butterfly farm and then go to Palm Beach for the rest of the day. It's look just cross the street from the beach?

Absolutely doable. :)

I didn't see a tour on De palma or ABC sites. El Tours offers a fauna tour but only on Saturdays. Any idea how to see these places without renting a car? (Cruise ship in January)

I didn't see a tour on De palma or ABC sites. El Tours offers a fauna tour but only on Saturdays. Any idea how to see these places without renting a car? (Cruise ship in January)

We plan on taking either a taxi or the bus to the butterfly farm.

I didn't see a tour on De palma or ABC sites. El Tours offers a fauna tour but only on Saturdays. Any idea how to see these places without renting a car? (Cruise ship in January)

Other than the butterfly farm, you will need to hire a private taxi for the day because these places are spread out around the island.

Other than the butterfly farm, you will need to hire a private taxi for the day because these places are spread out around the island.

Thank you for the info!!