Butterfly Pak, Bangalore
India’s first Butterfly Park is located in Bannerghatta area of Bangalore. It has a lovely tropical setting with a host of plants and shrubs to attract butterflies. Children and the young at heart will love the surreal settings which include an artificial waterfall as well. The museum and Audio visual show on butterflies takes you on a captivating journey back in time to trace the origin of butterflies and how the fate of man and butterflies are interlinked.
What to do
Butterflies have been a part and parcel of most ancient cultures. For time immemorial butterflies have been an inspiration to man signifying beauty and optimism. Ancient Mexicans even built a special Palace called the Palace of Mariposa, at Teotihuacan, near modern day Mexico City to honor butterflies! The palace has magnificent stone carvings of butterflies.
The Butterfly Park is spread over 7.5 acres of land near the Bannerghatta Zoo. It was set up for appreciation and conservation of butterflies. It also serves as an active centre for environmental education, research and conservation.
Start your trip at the Butterfly Conservatory, a 10000 sq feet circular enclosure with a polycarbonate roof. More than 20 species of Butterflies can be found here. Do you know how many Butterfly species are there in this world? There are 1,500,000 insect species and 200,000 of these species are of Lepidoptera (as moths and butterflies are called) worldwide. 15,000 of these species are butterflies and the rest are moths!
The Conservatory will lead you to the next dome which houses an informative Museum. It provides a pictographic representation of the 4 stages of lifecycle of a butterfly- the egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa or chrysalis, and the adult. Butterflies come in all sizes. The Eastern pygmy blue, Brephidium isophthalma is the smallest with a wingspan of about 5/8 of an inch. Bird-wing butterflies from New Guinea, with wingspans of up to 12 inches happen to be one of the largest.
Can you believe it that Butterflies use mimicry to save their lives from predators? Some species imitate other species to enjoy the protection of an attribute they do not share. Viceroy butterflies imitate the looks of Monarch butterflies as predators know that the latter is distasteful to eat and leads to vomiting!
The last dome in the complex is a theatre where you can catch a 20 minute movie about butterflies. Beyond giving information about butterflies, it focuses on their conservation. The movie is thought provoking as it explains how the fate of man and butterflies are interlinked and conservation of the environment is in mutual interest.
By the way, do you know how Butterflies got their name? There is no consensus on this and ancient traditions in each country have a different explanation. But, I loved English version. It seems witches were believed to turn in to butterflies and steal butter from people’s homes and fly away!
You can include a tour of the Bannerghatta zoo as it is just adjacent to the Butterfly Park. An interesting option here is to take the Safari vehicle that will take you to spot Tigers, Lions and Bears. You can also visit the Crocodile and Snake farms inside the zoo premises.
Planning a trip
The park is located adjacent to the parking area of the Bannerghatta Zoo, about 22 kms from Bangalore city.
Timings are 9am-5pm, and the park is closed on Tuesdays.
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