Sandwiched in between the Port of Miami, South Beach and the future Performing Arts Center, Parrot Jungle owners Bern and Mary Levine expect to make huge profits with this new endeavor.  

Well, it’s finally here. The official opening of the long awaited Parrot Jungle on Watson Island.   Saturday was D-day to big crowds and hungry-for-excitement–tourists, who longed to be first in line for this latest Magic City attraction.

Parrot Jungle outgrew its previous location in Pinecrest and has since been an anticipated addition to the heart of Miami. Sandwiched in between the Port of Miami, South Beach and the future Performing Arts Center, Parrot Jungle owners Bern and Mary Levine expect to make huge profits with this new endeavor. In fact, if Levine’s predictions are on target, attendance is expected to surpass 725,000 visitors during their first year. Of course it’s expensive to run a park like Parrot Jungle, but still, at about $20 to $25 a head… well you do the math.

Steven Levine, director of Safari Splash, one of the new attractions, assured me that all of the shows are completely new and different from anything that had been on view at the old Parrot Jungle. Expect three, higher quality daily shows and one evening show with the big cats. There are 12 full grown impressive felines including Bengal Snow White cats, Royal White tigers, Golden Tabbies, Leopards and a 900 pound Liger, which is the result of a male Lion mating with a female Tiger. Since the cats do have a tendency to “fool around,” the Jungle also has a nice assortment of newborn “kittens” to keep the kitty population dynamic.

 Trent Swigert, General Curator, who overlooks just about everything at the Jungle said: “This has been years in the making, March 21, 2001 was the ground breaking but we’re still putting in the finishing touches.”

Attractions include over 500 species of plants and trees and 3,000 animals from crocodiles and flamingos to orangutans and over 1,000 parrots of different varieties including macaws, amazons and cockatoos. When I asked, Birds of a Feather Show Manager Tim Rerucha, who is also a consultant at Cypress Gardens and Busch Gardens, how they train their birds, he said, “Joe (their in house bird specialist) bonds with all of the winged creatures. Joe finds out what they (the birds) like to do and then works the quirks and habits into a performance.” Some of the birds are over 35 years old and Parrot Jungle has a cockatoo that is in his forties, in people years.

When asked how they acquired the animals for the Jungle, Swigert said, “Many of the animals are donated to us. People buy the pets when they are young and cute and get tired of the noise and the feedings and give them to us. We can’t accept all of them, but we do take in some of the more unusual ones.”

Parrot Jungle is courting the tourist market by creating alliances with local cruise lines to develop excursion packages to the park and cooperative pricing packages with hotels. The centerpiece of the theme park is an open-air arena where visitors can enjoy the performances and interact with some of the inhabitants. Nestled amongst the exotic animals and lush foliage is the Treetop Ballroom which offers a unique setting for special events. Guests in the Ballroom will be privy to the Island’s picturesque Flamingo Lake, Miami’s downtown skyline and the cruise ships that come into and out of the Port of Miami.

So after reading all of this, it sounds like the perfect place to spend a day with family and friends and delight in this jungle oasis… but… there’s always one of those buts, I really had a hard time getting INTO Parrot Jungle. Sure there’s a colorful open-winged 15 foot-high fiberglass signature parrot in front of the parking lot. But if you are driving east on the MacArthur Causeway, you have to go way past the park in order to u-turn back to the entrance. Then by the time you get to the huge parrot again, you have gone past the small road that leads into the park and are still on the MacArthur going west to the Biscayne Blvd. off ramp. I eventually did what any resourceful women driver would have done after driving past the parrot twice… I pulled over and backed into the park.  I know, not too wise but learn from my mistakes.  Slow down considerably until they get the signs up.

For more information, call 305-2-JUNGLE. 

Send your Upper East Side, Design District, Downtown Miami and Brickell events information to megs@gate.net.