Geek It! Out&About: Get ready to RAWR at Junglia Okinawa (2025)

Japan = Check.

Island Adventure = Check.

Dinosaurs = Check.

Let’s time-travel back to summer of 2025. When we heard news of an adventure dinosaur park opening in Japan, we were all for it. Described as a ‘new nature-immersive theme park of overwhelming scale’ with ‘cutting-edge attractions’, this was something that we did not want to miss.

So we put on our safari outfits and ventured all the way to Okinawa’s Yanbaru and hyped ourselves for the most unique adventure yet…. JUNGLIA.

Going through Nakijin’s forests and farms, the joy ride to Junglia was a safari adventure itself. We were travelling into the unknown, and before we know it, we were greeted by a massive carpark.

Since this was the second week of Junglia’s opening, we braced ourselves for the large crowds. Luckily, the size of the park allowed us to stroll through the spacious area with no issues.

Unfortunately, since it was a typical summer day, the park did not have sufficient shady areas for visitors to retreat from the heat — one of Junglia’s major setbacks that should’ve been thought better for the public’s welfare.

When you look into the abyss of the park, you can see Junglia’s attractions in one viewing. From buggy rides to the hot air-balloon to the gliders, it was intriguing to see how the adventure park got built on the land.

And of course, we can’t forget to mention the obvious attraction in the far distance — the one and only brachiosaurus standing tall and almighty … in the midst of the synthetic palm trees.

We originally planned to do 2-3 activities during our visit but because of the brutal heat and long wait times (we’re talking 1-2 hours despite not having Universal Studios’ sized crowds!!), we decided on one activity and that was the one and only Dinosaur Safari.

Based on the description, the activity sounded pretty tame compared to the actual 4WD Safari activity. Riding a buggy and looking for dinosaurs should be mellow right?

And wow, did the Dinosaur Safari surprise us!

For each time-slot, they gathered about 15-20 people in a group. For the first few minutes, we were forced into a scenario where we learned that T-Rex was on the loose and terrorising humans and fellow dinosaurs.

Next minute, we were climbing the ladder into an actual 4WD buggy. And we weren’t travelling on some smooth flat course — we were literally 4WD-ing through dirt and river streams ….and seeing a blood trail of fallen dinosaurs.

Sadly, the fun was over in minutes. But honestly, it was the most surprising aspect that came out of our Junglia trip. If the Junglia management promoted the activities with more hype; fixes the wait time; and provides shade and seating areas for attendees, I’m sure people would be willing to wait in line even more.

After wasting half our day already, the weather deterred us from having proper lunch (the restaurant looked good though!) so we settled with snacks. Buns, fresh pineapples and juices — why not?

And although we did have spare time, the thought of waiting another hour or so in the heat was just not worth it. Since we’ve already got the jist of the ‘overall experience’ (and we haven’t even been to the spa area!), it was time to finish the day with souvenir shopping!

You’d think having a dinosaur park in the middle of Okinawa is the perfect tourist activity that could bring lots of revenue to the island (because Okinawa relies on tourism to survive).

But many locals aren’t too happy about the theme park. By the third week, we hear stories of ghost crowds and cancelled attractions. Why destroy natural environment for a manmade Jurassic Park? Why was there technically one large (and only visible) dinosaur in the entire park… that doesn’t even move? Why go to Junglia when there are already two dinosaur parks in the same vicinity?

While we totally understand the concerns, we can only hope that Junglia will make necessary changes to improve the quality of the theme park.

RATING: 5/10