Butterfly Garden

The Butterfly Garden plants its way to its residents. Beds of host and nectar species (citrus, milkweeds, lantana relatives, curry-leaf) keep local butterfly populations breeding on site rather than behind netting. On a warm, sunny mid-morning the paths flicker with them; on an overcast afternoon you will mostly see plants, which is the honest trade of a living exhibit.

Gujarat Tourism records ten acres planted with 150 species of nectar and larval host plants, supporting more than seventy species of butterfly. The distinction is the whole design: host plants are where eggs go and caterpillars feed, so this is a breeding habitat rather than a display cage, and the population it holds is a local one.

Interpretation boards cover life cycles and species; kids get caterpillar-hunting on the host plants with a little guidance. It is a light, pleasant forty minutes that lands best with children and macro photographers, folded into the jetty-zone loop with the Cactus Garden next door.