Visit to Rainforests of the World

One can sample the various rain forests in central and south America, Asia, and Africa in the Moody Gardens Rainforest Pyramid.  Natalie and I enjoyed visiting the newly remolded pyramid.  New is a high walkway that allows one to see birds, butterflies, bats, sloths and other animals. We enjoyed sampling the rainforests of the world. We also went down into a faux Egyptian tomb to see other animals, including an anaconda, fish, bats, and scorpions.

The new entrance features quotes and the sounds of the rainforest.  This was my favorite one since I love to travel by water so much.

 

We visited exhibits of rainforest frogs and other exhibits showing the importance of rainforests.  Then we took the stairs up to the second floor and entered the rainforest pyramid  on a walkway through the tree tops. This orchid immediately caught my eye. 

 A large sloth was right behind the orchid but it had its back to us and I couldn't get a picture. Birds were lying around and sitting quietly in the trees. Fruit bats were contained in a huge mesh cage. We got to see how mangos grow and watch birds fly through the trees or sit quietly on branches, making us take our time to try and find them all.

 

 We saw many familiar house plants in their natural setting.

 Most butterflies were kept in a screened enclosure near the top of the pyramid but some had escaped to fly through the trees and visit the flowers. This one landed on my hand and then I gently encouraged it to step of onto these pentas for a picture.

There were lots of bromeliads and orchids and some pitcher plants.

This strange flower was named for the fact it looks like musical notes.

Neither Natalie nor I had ever seen these beautiful caladiums in garden stores. 

We enjoyed watching two pairs of parrots interact.

We really enjoyed visiting the rainforest pyramid.  I wish I had the money to visit them in person.