Help save the Butterfly Forest

The Butterfly Forest, originally named the Butterfly and Orchid Garden, was the first tropical butterfly house to be built anywhere in New Zealand in 1999. Since then, thousands of people have been through its doors, enjoying the specially created environment. Daniel Adam, Aminta Adam and Geoff Proctor are the three new co-owners of the facility. They bought the Butterfly and Orchid Garden in October last year (2017) and re-named it the Butterfly Forest after a huge portion of the orchids were stolen. They felt a name change was a good idea and more in keeping with their goals for the future.

The new owners, full of plans and development for the future, shut down for a while. In this time, they put all their energy and money into developing 'the Forest,' attempting to re-create as near as possible a natural environment for the butterflies with extra plants, running water and even the introduction of reptiles and birds. Just when things appeared to be on the way up, they were hit with some incredibly bad news ! Late last November their landowners came and surprisingly terminated their contract, implying that it had outgrown the space provided and that it could possibly have adverse affects on their own holiday park business. Sadly, the Butterfly Forest was given just 10 months to move EVERYTHING (the structure/buildings, butterflies, birds, fish, plants etc) to a new location. It would have been easy to chuck it all in at that stage, but the new owners became more determined than ever to re-build the Butterfly Forest at another local site and to carry on with 'their unique dream for the future!'

With huge help from the Thames Coromandel District Council (TCDC) to find a new site, Daniel, Aminta and Geoff were delighted to find a new location on the main highway entering the Thames Coromandel. The Council is totally behind this project in terms of legal advice, marketing and consents. However, the Butterfly Forest needs a fairly large amount of money to make this all happen before the end of the year! The Butterfly Forest is looking to have a big fanfare opening, involving all supporters, locals and the media this December.

To make this all happen and to situate the Butterfly Forest as a key feature of the Thames-Coromandel and beyond, approximately $120,000 is needed. We therefore respectfully seek your financial contribution to help us reach our goal of making the Butterfly Forest a national and international destination where some of the world's most beautiful and most threatened butterflies, plants and reptiles can all be viewed in an environment that replicates their own.

For more photos and information, please see our Facebook Page: 'Butterfly Forest.'

With our thanks to you all,

Daniel, Aminta & Geoff