The Animal Sanctuary @ Butterfly World in Noorder-Paarl

We were so disappointed its so run down and not at all maintained and not worth money spent. Weve been about 3 times each time hoping for better, we gave it one last chance. But will sadly never retirn!

We could not have been more disappointed. More many years, Butterfly World was a wonderful place to visit. Now as Exotic Animal World (with no butterfliesit has become totally run down, with many of the walk through areas closed and a reaction of the experience it used to offer. Dont waste your money.

This is such a cool place to visit!!! Love all the animals the gift shop is so pretty.

Animals are definitely taken care of. You can spend time with the animals inside their cages (not allowed to touch them though). My favorite thing to do is spending time with the lemurs in their cage. There is a restaurant with nice food options. I had a breakfast at 12:30pm. No picnics allowed but there are benches where you can sit and eat food you bought from them. Definitely worth the support and Id suggest getting a year pass if youre going to go more than 2 times in a year

Ive visited exotic animal world many times over the years. Its amazing to see how its grown. Fantastic place to take the family

The people who care for these amazing animals, should receive a medal. It is clear that they are well looked after and quite content and everywhere you look there are bowls of fresh fruit and vegetables and they are happily munching away. A thoroughly enjoyable outing - especially with young children. My granddaughter of 5 just loved handling a real live snake - while grandma waited outside...

Its OK, not much to see and ridiculously priced.... then I would rather go to giraffe house which is cheaper cleaner and more kid friendly.... the food was great though

We visited with our little granddaughter. Thought it was still called Butterfly World but the name changed to Exotic Animal World.Very interesting birds and other exotic animals. A big variety to look at including fishes.And what did our little three year old like... the chickens. Lol.

We took our grandchild to experience the beautiful creatures up close! What a fascinating experience and soooo much to see and learn about nature. I wish everyone could learn more about the wonders of the natural kingdom that this amazing place affords one to experience. We will return again!

The children loved seeing all the exotic animals. We had a lovely brunch in the restaurant too. The gift shop had lovely gifts very reasonably priced.

The former glory of the old Butterfly World is gone to an extent. There is no real oemf or energy in the place and there needs to come more drive and creativity. I dont think its anyones fault I just think there isnt enough appeal to the place anymore. I did love the service and the coffee I got afterwards and friendly staff always makes out for a good trip. The car guard even played with us soccer in the parking lot. I suggest they must get some advertising done or let me do the videography and marketing videos for social media. The animals are well looked after and there is a passion to support those exotic animals. Perfect for younger kids.

Many different animals to go look at.Children get to go on a "treasure hunt" they need to look for a wooden block, if found they can collect a lucky packet. My kids had a lot of fun, The food was great.

Fantastic experience, educational and the most amazing exotic animals.

Great outdoor walk and enjoyment for the family.Our Grandparents and I took my daughter there of 7 years. Enjoyable but rather short in what there is to view. We were only advised that to see the Butterflies also was only in the summer. Food was average however slightly overpriced in my opinion. Not hating on the place however. Average trip OK experience price in my opinion is rather high considering.

Such a fun outing for the whole family to do. We had an international guest with us, who also thoroughly enjoyed it. Definitely worth a visit for kids, teens and even grandparents.We did comment on the lack of neatness, and that some dusting, landscaping and perhaps some fresh signage would make a massive difference to the look and feel.

What a lovely experience! Even on a rainy day it was well lit and comfortable. All the animals are well cared for and appreciated in each of their enclosures. Definitely and exceptional spot for young kids and their birthday parties! Lots to see and do

Good place to bring the family.Lots of interesting facts around too,so you could learn something.Certain Snake 🐍 pens looked quite bleak it did say they were busy with it but would take 5 mins just to put some rocks and bush in as it was just empty apart from the 🐍 as they did look a bit sad.Plenty to see for an afternoon or morning.Definitely worth a stop by.Wouldnt reccomd the restaurant service was pretty poor.

I quite enjoyed my visit here. There are a LOT of creatures on display! I take my hat off to the owners who take in, nurse and rehabilitate hundreds of birds, reptiles, etc on a shoestring budget so the R88 entrance fee is well justified. The food and service is good. Altogether a memorable experience.

Great interactive experience. The animals look well kept and looked after. We really enjoyed the witty animal jokes that they have posted around the facility.

Fantastic to see the exotic animals, especially the rescues. Great work guys. Enjoyed my visit and can highly recommend it. Cafe Lemur food was really good, although the service was a bit slow so be patient.

Really fun, especially for kids. For teens its a good place to take good pictures. Fun and interesting animals to view. Amazing restaurants but service could be better

Lovely place with beautiful animals that are looked after so well. They dont have butterflies at the moment, at no fault of their own (lockdown problemsand a couple of enclosures are being renovated/are closed but they are upfront about this before you buy your tickets. Enjoyed our time there :)

The weekend outing was a disappointment when we found that butterflies do not feature at this establishment any more.This center now focuses on the rehabilitation of exotic animals.The management shows an incredible dedication in a difficult financial environment.I salute them for a brave effort in spite of financial constraints.An interesting visit for young children.

This was Butterfly World before Covid, but due to lockdowns they havent been able to import butterflies. Its now an animal sanctuary. Its great for kids to see the animals, but its pretty standard as far as animal parks go. There is also the obligatory coffee shop and gift shop.

A Good place to take the whole family. We all had fun, young and old. The only let down was the restaurant was really expensive.

I was disappointed as there were no butterflies in sight - is that why the name changed?? Further the tortoise enclosure was a dismal prison with far too many animals in the small space and insufficient shade and a ground surface that looked like an unkempt building site. Ditto for the poor meerkat population with terrible earth covered in bits of brick stone and chunks of cement. Nowhere to burrow which is their natural wont. They were being fed on scraps of vegetation and that for animals whose diet consists of insects and other small vertebrates. The main enclosure had very little of interest and I feel that this place has deteriorated in the time since I was here last. Despite the many certificates etc on the entrance noticeboard I saw very little knowledge of habitat maintenance. The owl looked just as miserable. The toilet in the enclosure next to the owl needs some maintenance attention as no lights worked. The little restaurant provided fairly good chow and was the highlight of the visit.

Although Butterfly World experienced a challenging time after Covid, its great to see new initiatives here. Everyone should visit and support!

Butterfly world or Exotic Animal world is a gem in the western cape, it is a must visit! Ive been coming here since I was a boy, admiring the animals and enjoying everything there was to offer! The elephant in the room with Butterlfy world at the moment is the lack of Butterflies, hence the new name! Completely understandble because of the pandemic the keepers and staff have had trouble importing new butterflies and lack of recourses resulted in almost no more butterflies, regardless with this knowlage we went anyway since there are so many other fantastic exotic animals which you can visit and some are even up for adoption! I took my mom and girlfriend for womansday and to be honest we had so much fun we didnt even notice there were no butterflies, the parrots were sitting on our shoulders, the lemurs where curiously inspecting us for food and all the other animals are so close you could basically pet them (I dont suggest it). Conservation is very important and Exotic animal world adopts so many disgarded, lost, orphaned and illigally traded animals and it brings a smile to my face when you see the level of care they recieve from all the staff. Pay them a visit, lets support exotic animal world and see them bloom once again! Oh and the lemur café has 10/10 food and drinks on its own! Thank you to all the staff that keep this facility up and running, you rock!

Exotic animal world is a very fun day activity for the whole family. They have loads of animals to see and educate yourself and your loved ones on.There is a cute café on sight that serves food and drinks. There is also a gift shop to get a little souvenir on your way out.They keep rescue animals and you can also adopt some. The animals are well looked after and they have a good spacious environment filled with enrichment to play with. I was lucky to be there during the owls feeding time and snapped amazing photos.I highly encourage you to take your family. They are so appreciative for some customers during this tough time. Your money is being used to buy these animals some food and to keep the enclosures clean.I had an amazing time, thank you so much!

Amazing Place To spend the day 🤩Great variety of animals and reptiles!! 🐵🦅🐢🐍Unfortunately due to Covid there is no Butterflys at the moment ❌❌ BUT still loads to see and do!!Covid regulations are in place and is very safe and clean 😷Its a must see!! 🤩.Take your loved one, friends, family or Everyone!They have a nice Cafè that serves good food! 🍔🌯🍳I had a great time! And will definitely be checking in again!Go and check them out!⭐⭐⭐⭐

A spectacular place to visit, sadly cut shot by a power outage. Even without any butterflies due to COVID import restrictions there was plenty to keep us entertained and informed. Lemurs, terrapins, parrots, marmosets, tarantulas, meerkats, owls, even hissing cockroaches - they were all there!

Lovely outing! Just please be careful of the animals that are loose. I worry about the African Greys for example as they walk on the floor. They need support as Covid hit hard with it being a tourist attraction. Please support them.

Good food at the lemur cafe. Friendly staff. Beautiful enclosures. Unfortunately no butterflies at the moment due to COVID. Was lucky to witness a snake handling training session.

Although there were no butterflies, it was still a very memorable experience. A must-see destination! Many other animals to see and the free-roaming lemurs are a treat to observe! The Lemur Cafe has great food and friendly staff. We were lucky to see one of the snake training sessions, which was quite interesting!

Kids enjoyed it, just were bit disappointed that there were no butterflies, but were overall a good experience for them.

What an awesome place.1. Great food.2. Very friendly personal3. Animals is really well looked after and in great condition.4. Great place to take the kids too for an outing.Really worth a visit.

There was no butterflies and many enclosures was empty. Not worth the R80 paid per person. The restaurant area was at least nice.

Although there are no butterflies in the sanctuary currently, it houses a number of animals from across the world that are rehabilitated to adjust to the SA climate. Sad to say that most of these animals were once exotic pets; animals taken away from their natural habitats by ignorant humans.

I took my daughter to Butterfly World Animal Sanctuary yesterday, & we had a wonderful time. We finished walking through the gardens, & as I passed the reception area, I heard a man complaining to the poor manager about not having butterflies. The more the manager tried to explain, the more the man continued to badger him.Ok, some background: Butterfly World imports their butterfly pupae from the Philippines, & with World Wide Lockdown (& the Philippines been hit with a terrible Typhoon), they are unable to receive them. Sad, but true, my daughter would have loved to have seen them too! But you would think that the manager was the main cause of every atrocity that befell this visitor (creating Covid-19, making everyone sick, & made every one wear a mask etc.All I thought was “Gee whiz, give the dude a break”. The visitor left without even venturing in, his loss.Reason for this review is to enlighten people, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the way home. Before I posted this, I went through some of the latest reviews. Most were great, but I see lots of people moaning about the lack of butterflies. I hope they read this. I also do not understand the single star ratings, were they at the right place?Butterfly World didn’t ask for Covid-19 & Lockdown restrictions to happen, but it happened. They didn’t ask for flights to be banned (hence no butterflies), but it happened. The point is, life happens, but we go on & survive & try to make the best of it.So Butterfly World doesn’t have butterflies, but:They have a wonderful collection of all types of animals to view. Every animal was either someone’s pet or was confiscated because they are illegal. Let that sink in for a moment. Hundreds of animals are just donated/dumped at their doorstep. People pay a lot of money for exotic pets, just abandon them. Who does that? Or grand children receive the grannies African Grey, because Granny can’t look after it anymore, & he is too much effort & very noisy - Let’s take it to Butterfly World, its fine, he will have a good life, I don’t have to deal with a guilty conscience. Or even worse, people who illegally buy animals that are blacklisted, & then get caught out. Blacklisted animals are blacklisted for a reason, duh?Anyway, that’s what they do, & then Butterfly World looks after these animals, feed them, take them to the vet if they are sick. I just had to take my kitty to the vet, & it cost me a fortune.So the parrot in the recovery bay that has plucked his feathers, the free-roaming iguana with a sore mouth who has lived in a cage most of his life or the tortoise that got hit by a car & had to have his shell put together with cement putty - now they have a good forever home!The fresh-water aquarium is amazing! Where have you ever seen barracuda, mudskippers & tiny shrimpies & PIRANHA’S! Never in my life! I have never seen real basilisk, tenrec, Goliath bird eater, Fennec Fox or a platanna. Weird & wonderful, but who in the world keeps them as pets.Lockdown was hard for all of us, but how did Butterfly World even survive? With no income, they still needed to care for all their animals & all their staff (who were friendly, accommodating & knowledgeable).The service & food at the restaurant was great, & the carrot cake was to die for.My 7 year old was so impressed, that she took R100 of her own holiday money, & popped it in the donation jar. Wow!Here is my conclusion:Go & visit Butterfly World Animal Sanctuary, it is worth it, your entry fees really go to an excellent cause! They are a sanctuary, not a zoo.Be kind to people! Especially people working on holidays. We are all in this together. It was a horrible year, & everyone is stressed. Don’t make it worse!Get your pet from a shelter!Take wounded indigenous animals to Butterfly World, they will know what to do with it.Support local businesses & entrepreneurs, we do not want to see people losing their jobs.Be positive, we will get through this!Well done Butterfly World Team!If I could have given you more than 5 stars, I would have!

Such a pity about covid restrictions meaning they couldnt import their butterfly pupae from Indonesia I believe...We learned so much about the process from taking to the owner.It is visible that they are struggling to recover from the financial loss as a result.They have spent the money on upgrading their animals spaces and expanding their rescued animal selection.Including school critters that could no longer be looked after (because of covid)They also have a newly rescued Fennic fox, and a family of Lemurs, the cutest albino hedgehogs, and a ton of very excited guinipigs and parrots.They are currently building a bunny area, where you can go in and feed them(They are still just busy bunny-proofing all the fences apparently)More money unfortunately needs to be spent on the existing structures maintenance. And the amphibian area felt like it needed more TlC. With the reduced foot traffic due to no butterflies, my concern is that this will be very difficult ( they even ran a 3 month special or so the last few months to entice people to go againsince December it was basically full price again (tourist season)All in all, we had a fab family afternoon.We sadly missed the ice-cream deli that there used to be in the back garden, an old favorite treat of ours for when we go there...But we made up for it with Slushies and milkshakes at the main cafe before we left.We wish them all the best, such a treasure for the small kids, and the animals are loved.We will be back.Please go and support Butterfly world in 2021.

Even without the butterflies (due to Covid flight restrictions), Butterfly World was awesome. Our toddler loved it and so did we. So glad we didnt miss the outside area! (Entrance through aquariumwould love to see it in all its butterfly glory!

Absolute pleasure to work with Esther and her team, always willing to assist animals and reptiles. Just dropped of a baby puffy that was injured for specialised care. And they just have had one of the Lemurs give birth. Too cute!

We were going to go to the aquarium but the queue was out the door and down the road. So we went to Butterfly World instead... And wow... It was amazing. They dont have butterflies because of covid and import issues. But it was so worth the visit otherwise. We spoke to the one lady there and you could see the passion in her eyes. The interactions were so special and I fell in love. And they have a 2 day old baby lemur... Go visit... You wont regret it.

Wow. I felt like a kid. Around every corner something new. You wont find big animals but the birds, limas and other insects and reptiles are great. Afterwards you can sit down at the restaurant for a light lunch and or breakfast. Great service and staff who truly love the animals. I went just after lockdown and there were no butterflies, as they ship in pupas. So I would suggest calling ahead and checking when the next pupas hatch. I cant wait to go back.

A true sanctuary. The butterflies are beautiful, and walking through the enclosed garden gives a sense of ease. But what really stuck with me is the wide array of wild animals that the sanctuary gives home to. Many of the animals were once pets, bought by people who didnt understand the commitment they were making and could no longer take care of them. Others were saved by people finding them in human settlements or crossing the road. Places like this are much needed for the safety of animals and the education of humans.

So much to see here. Fantastic exhibits and wonderful animals that are all rescues and would not survive in the wild. The sanctuary constantly reminds its customers of the horrors of buying exotic animals and why its wrong which makes the experience exciting and new, but also very educational. Definitely a thrill for child and adult alike.

Had an amazing time with my husband. There was a wider variety of animals than I thought and the outside place is amazing for picnics, however you can only picnic with food bought at the place. Well worth it if you do. Note to anyone who gets warm quick, the place is very humid as this is perfect for the animals, so be prepared.

We were very suprised by this place. So much to see and really a great experience for the whole family. All animals are well kept and looked after. The butterflies flying around your head makes for a really memorable experience! Lots of animal skeletons on display, and lots more to see. Reptile and spiders are also very interisting. All round great experience.

Not very many butterflies this time of year, but there are more than enough other animals to make the visit to butterfly world worthwhile. They keep upgrading so there is a section currently under construction, but the place looks great and is enjoyable for both adults and children.

Wow!! What a lovely trip! Ideal if you love nature and have time to kill, as you can easily spend hours here, with lots of butterflies, birds, hedgehogs etc. to see. Place looks well maintained and animals seem healthy. They accommodate a lot of rescued animals, so I will support them every time when I am in the area.