Our Visit to Jungle Habitat - West Milford, New Jersey

It was always a little strange for me to think that my parents and my brother (and perhaps me, although I am not certain if I was born yet) had visited our old hometown of West Milford many years before we actually would wind up moving there. But that is absolutely what they did as a family. Yes, our family had visited the town to visit Jungle Habitat.

Yes, Jungle Habitat was the big thing that was famous, and for which West Milford was best known for back in those days. It only lasted a few years, however. Yet, the legacy of this place seems to have lasted far longer than it might seem reasonable to suppose. These days, there are stories, or perhaps more urban legends, regarding Jungle Habitat and what happened to that place, much like there is with the new place that West Milford is probably best known for these days: the allegedly haunted Clinton Road. With Jungle Habitat, rumors persisted for years that some of the animals were simply left behind after the park closed. I remember this discussion coming up once in my classroom in, I believe, fourth grade. The teacher had heard some friends living near Jungle Habitat who swore that they heard lions roaring late at night. Why knows?

In any case, that was literally decades ago now. It closed in 1977. My friend and I had visited it once, back when it was illegal to do so. Moreover, we visited during the night, which made it kind of spooky. Yet, this place almost feels a bit spooky today. There are clear signs that it used to be a place of some importance. However, it is also in an advanced state of disrepair, lending it an apocalyptic feel. 

Nowadays, it is open to the public. There is even a nicely paved parking lot just outside of this place. Still, it feels a little adventurous to be in such a place as this, where there are still remnants of the park that was, but long ago ceased to be. One unfortunate thing: they took down the wooden sign at the entrance that welcomed visitors to "Jungle Habitat." It look quite a bit like the sign in the blockbuster Jurassic Park movies.

In any case, here are some pictures taken from our recent visit here this past Tuesday. We got a bridge/tunnel, a building that appears to have been some kind of tourist guide house (my best guess), and a strange Christmas tree. Also, there were two separate but enormous snakes that we saw within five minutes or so of one another, and which were among the three or four biggest snakes that I personally have ever seen in New Jersey. My son did not notice the first one and was about to step on it, although I had seen what appeared to be a black crack on an otherwise old and faded parking lot, and the very darkness of it looked out of place. Once I saw it actually moving, and saw how close my son was to it (practically on top of it, truth be told), I called out to him in warning. But we got some nice pictures of both snakes.

Enjoy!

Snake 1:

Snake 2:

The straight lines in these two pictures are actually real bamboo trees, apparently. Guessing they date back to the Jungle Habitat days, because they are a rather odd fit otherwise for the middle of the woods of northern New Jersey.