Butterfly Garden – Changi Airport Singapore

Clicking Butterflies At Changi Airport Singapore

I am sure just like me you too were fascinated by butterflies as a kid. Well, who can blame you for butterflies are one of the most colorful, delicate and mysterious creatures . I mean who can look at a hairy, caterpillar blissfully chomping on leaves and can predict what it will become as a grownup.?  So what we are cannot be defined by only one aspect of our life or personality. Let me try to make some sense. An airport is an airport is an airport unless it is Changi International Airport in Singapore. Then you need to decide whether to call it an airport, the best shopping destination in Singapore or a collection of gardens of all sorts. 

For no any matter where you are in Changi Airport, you are never far away from a beautiful garden.  There are many a garden in Changi like

• The Sunflower Garden
• The Cactus Garden
• The Orchid Garden
• The Enchanted Garden
• The Lily Pond
• And the Butterfly Garden

When I was checking for things to do at Changi Airport,  I was wondering if we in an airport or in a garden, the question that one need to ask is

Was the Changi designed around the gardens or the Gardens of Changi designed around the Airport. Either way, one cannot miss the beautiful gardens in the Changi Airport and the most fascinating of them all is the Butterfly Garden located in the – Terminal 3 Departure Transit Lounge, Level 2 & 3, and Transit Area.

The beauty of the Changi Airport Butterfly garden is that is much more than butterflies, in order to attract, sustain and successfully breed the 40 odd species of butterflies ( depending on season) that are found in the Butterfly Garden of Changi Airport a complete ecosystem has been created with flowering trees,  plants, waterfalls, breeding areas and a man-made Grotto waterfall!! . But as the butterflies need a lot of energy to fly around to supplement their need for nectar I found a unique method adapted in the Butterfly garden.

Juicy Pineapple pieces are kept in the garden along with some cut flowers dipped in sugar syrup so that the butterflies never go hungry for want to nectar. Just look at some of these pictures and you can see that the Butterflies are sure enjoying their little piece of heaven in one of the busiest airports in the world.

As I was moving around like a kid in the Butterfly Garden happily clicking pictures of butterflies, I soon realized how popular the Butterfly Garden at Changi is. I noticed many parents there coming with their kids and showing them various butterflies, flowers, and even the posters that explain the lifecycle of butterflies, difference between a moth and a butterfly and many other nuances about Butterflies.

 

What could be a better way to educate your kids about nature and little creatures around us than to show them one of the most beautiful wonders of nature, the butterflies at such close quarters? I almost got back in my botany class where I learned a very important thing that our winged friends like butterflies, moths, and honeybees play an important role in pollination and without them the world food production will dwindle so much that we may see a collapse of our food supply chain. So next time you look at a butterfly remember she is not just a pretty face but also a part of a very complex system that decides not only our food supply but also climate patterns. Remember the good old chaos theory?

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“A butterfly flapping its wings in New Mexico can cause a Hurricane in China”

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In our collective consciousness butterflies occupy more space than another insect. From quotes, sayings, to poems and even movies named after butterflies. Pray, I am sure you know a social butterfly that hovers from one party to another. But dare you not touch her for she may float like a butterfly but still sting like a Bee. (Actually that saying is for Muhammad Ali the Boxing Great).  Just what you think is the end of a Caterpillar it is the new beginning in the form of a butterfly.

Though it is impossible to count, but my guess would be there were maybe around 1000 + butterflies of all shape and sizes around me. As I am no expert on the names of butterflies I am unable to name most of them, but I did recognize a few of them that I have seen in India also.

So dear reader if you are flying via Changi Airport in Singapore, do take some time and visit the Butterfly Garden in the transit lounge of T3. And like all good things in life the visit to the Butterfly garden is absolutely free courtesy Changi Airport.

To learn names of various butterflies shown in pictures here you can visit the website of Nature Society Singapore (Butterfly List).

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