Laberinto Tropical on Margarita Island
Tropical garden, labyrinths, and a zoo
Laberinto Tropical is a tropical garden and ecological park with two mazes (labyrinths) and various mostly native animals of Venzuela. It is a very nice and calm place to visit, with beautiful scenery, and especially good for children who will just absolutely love the wild animals in the little zoo (some are quite tame), as well as exploring each maze.
The labyrinth garden is located in La Asuncion. When you're on the main road at the junction next to the big dome, turn east, and soon you will see the sign on the left (see photo of the road sign on the right).
When you first get in, you're supposed to walk through the botanical gardens and find your way through the two labyrinths.
After you manage those, you will enter a nice shady area with a few big trees, a canopy under which are some snakes, birds, and many other animals (in cages), and a hut with bathrooms, souvineers, and refreshments.
And this is where the most of the animals are (though some birds such as pelicans roam free in the general area). You will see fauna such as monkeys, boa constrictors, large pythons, rattlesnake, coral snake, several other smaller vipers and snakes, caimans (alligators) in a natural habitat setting, several kinds of turtles, peacocks, pelicans, cattle egrets, parrots, toucans, tarantula, leopard gecko, iguana, and giant centipede (about 12 inches long). The animals and many kinds of plants have signs with both the common name in Spanish, as well as the Latin scientific name of the species.
Especially funny was to observe the little monkey in the tree ("Miguel") - he snatches the fruit snacks fed to it by the tourists, and drinks coconut water from the caretaker's palm!
In this area, the workers will also serve you a local drink such as sugar cane juice, "papelon con limon", some fruits, or other little snackies.
Laberinto Tropical is actually an animal rehabilitation center. It takes care of former pets abandoned by their owners, perhaps injured, or otherwise left alone, and tries to rehabilitate them back into nature. But sometimes the animal that has been taken care of by humans hasn't learned how to feed itself in nature, or is handicapped, and thus cannot be freed.
|
