Good day, everyone. This year, we visited Dubai Safari Park. This was not our first time in the United Arab Emirates, and we had already been on all the possible and interesting excursions. We don’t like zoos (we feel sorry for the animals), but all the guides urged us so persistently to go to this safari park that our child really wanted to go on this excursion. We bought it from the Anex Tour guide for $180 for two people.
What also encouraged me to go on this trip was that this park wants to be listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest. And if something is in that book, it means we had to go there.
The park is divided into four areas: ‘Explorers’ Village’, ‘African Village’, ‘Arabian Desert Safari’ and ‘Asian Village’. Each area has animals and birds that live in the corresponding region. There is a map of the park with the inhabitants that can be seen marked on it. We took a photo of the map on our phone (the guide showed it to us and it is also available on the way from the entrance). We used the map to find our way around because the distances are quite long and it is easy to get lost. We had to return in four hours because the guide was waiting for us with the bus. There are taxis in the park, but I didn’t want to pay extra for that.
The areas are all designed differently, and you can not only see the animals but also take photos of yourself in various attractive locations.
There are really a lot of animals and birds. To be honest, I’m not very good at classifying all these species. There are posts near the enclosures with information about the inhabitants in English and Arabic.
I liked feeding the giraffe in the ‘Explorers’ Village’ the most. It is so cute, with a fluffy face, and it takes food very carefully with its tongue. You can buy bags of carrots and some greens from a vending machine nearby and feed the cute animal from your hands. I’m already quite a grown-up lady and have seen a lot in my life, but this experience filled me with complete delight. Our timid teenage child was afraid to get close to the giraffe, and I noticed that the other children were too. Feeding takes place strictly according to a schedule, which our guide gave us.
The guide told us that we should definitely visit the ‘Explorers’ Village’ and the ‘African Village’. We did so, but we ran so quickly from one shade to another that we also managed to see the ‘Asian Village’ and the ‘Safari in the Arabian Desert’. The Asian Village has waterfalls, interesting buildings, flowers and Himalayan bears. In the Arabian part, we were taken on a quick tour in an open-top car, where we saw ostriches and gazelles again. The transport was very convenient because by the end of the tour our legs were tired. The driver stopped and waited patiently while we took photos.
I really wanted to show my child the gorilla, but we were turned away at the pavilion and told that it wasn’t working. I saw gorillas in a park in the Canary Islands, and they made a big impression on me.
At the exit, you could buy photos taken by a photographer while feeding the giraffes or at the entrance, and purchase souvenirs. We had more than enough photos of our own, and the souvenirs were ugly. Although I like to bring back some trinket as a souvenir, there was nothing to choose from. Even the stuffed animals were ugly.
In the end, I would say that we liked the park. It is especially useful for school-age children. But even for us, who are used to the heat, it was quite hot, and pensioners and small children should definitely not go there in the heat. The guide selling the tours lied, saying that there was shade everywhere and everything was located under the trees. You have to walk huge distances under the scorching sun, and only near the animals themselves are there shelters and fans, which do not provide relief from the heat at the peak of the day.
I recommend everyone to visit, preferably during the cooler months.
