20th century archeology- searching for Jungle Habitat

Back in the 1970s Warner Bros. made a wild animals safari theme park out in the woods of West Milford NJ. Jungle Habitat lasted only a few years before the bigger Great Adventure theme park opened, and Warners quickly pulled the plug before they started losing money.


The grounds have been incorporated into a state park and I hiked in to look for remnants of a happy day I had there when I was 7 years old.


Unusual but effective trail marker



I think this is an animal transport cage. There were many scattered around the woods.


Ankle deep in leaves

For decades after it closed urban legends persisted that the animals were all set free into the woods, and there were always tales of " a friend of my cousin's friend's brother says he saw a zebra out there." All of it nonsense but somehow it all adds to the legendary mystique of this place.