Birds of Eden Near Plettenberg Bay






















 I taxi-pooled with two friends staying at a neighboring hostel to animal parks. I picked Birds of Eden. One friend also visited Monkeyland, and another friend only visited Jukani Wildlife Sanctuary. 

Birds of Eden is the world's largest free flight aviary and bird sanctuary, located in Kurland village near Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape, South Africa. The mesh dome of the sanctuary was built over 2.3 hectares of indigenous forest, and is up to 55 metres above ground level. It is the home to over 3500 birds of some 200 species of previously caged birds which include several species of parrot, turaco, waterfowl, finches, cranes, hornbills and many more. Since they were caged birds, they are human friendly and playful. One even landed on my boots and hoping up and down on my boots.

I like the landscape and cleverly designed 1.2-in walkways via the park. I probably see 500 or more of birds of over 100 kinds in one day. I enjoyed being the first person in the park today and spotted an abundance of birds flying free and living natural lives at my own pace.

I had steak lunch with one friend back in town at The Table restaurant that cost only 135 Rand ($7.25). I am totally spoiled by the low prices here. 

I handout with my friends in the other hostels, since I am the only backpacker in my hostel (the other guests are seasonal workers). We then walked to the Whale Tail Lookout Point at sunset to see whales, but I only saw one dolphin. I need to sleep early for tomorrow 6:30 am hike.

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