Dubai Safari Park reopens on October 12 for its eighth season, with a conservation-led theme and a week of family events timed for the school mid-term break. The park in Al Warqa covers 119 hectares and houses more than 3,000 animals from around 300 species.
This season runs under the theme “Live More Wild Life”, which centres on conservation and on bringing visitors closer to the animals. The park’s first Wildest Opening Week takes place from October 12 to 18, and the Little Explorers’ Base Camp will offer children face painting, temporary tattoos, clay modelling, arts and crafts, lawn games and safari-themed inflatables. A new four-hour Royal Safari Experience, a private tour for groups of up to 10, has been designed for travel trade partners. The Birds Kingdom, Echoes of the Wild and Birds of Prey presentations are back, as are the King of Safari and Dine in the Wild premium experiences.
The park now holds membership of both the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. It is split into six zones, African Village, Asian Village, Explorer Village, Arabian Desert, Kids Farm and Al Wadi, linked by air-conditioned trains and shuttle buses. Every ticket includes the 15-minute Arabian Desert Safari, which passes Arabian oryx, ostriches, scimitar-horned oryx and addax. The Arabian oryx was hunted to extinction in the wild by 1972 and, in 2011, became the first species upgraded from extinct in the wild to vulnerable.
In the African Village, a herd of African bush elephants led by the matriarch Zulu includes one pregnant female, and nearby enclosures hold white lionesses from South Africa, chimpanzees and Digit, the park’s only male gorilla. The aviary, the largest in the UAE, has around 300 birds from 37 species. The guided Explorer Safari, sold through the Safari Bundle, passes hippos and a troop of more than 100 Hamadryas baboons led by an alpha male called Pogi. Visitor Rishika Paul, who came with her family, told Gulf News she was struck by the park’s conservation work, including the return of more than 300 animals to the wild.
The Safari Park Pass costs Dh50 for anyone aged three and above and covers all six zones, the desert safari, live presentations, workshops, a complimentary animal encounter and free parking. The Safari Bundle adds the Explorer Safari and unlimited shuttle train access. Outside food is not permitted apart from baby food and water, and meals at the Elephant Café cost between Dh20 and Dh55. The park is on Al Aweer Road in Al Warqa 5, diagonally opposite Dragon Mart.
