In Pictures: Sharjah Safari Park

Sharjah is diversifying its tourism opportunities with a vast safari park that opened its doors on February 17.

Sharjah Safari, located within the Al Bridi Reserve in the city of Al Dhaid is 16 square kilometres.

The safari is the largest in the world outside of Africa, incubating more than 120 species of animals that live in Africa, with the rarest of them being the black rhinoceros and more than 100,000 native and African trees, the most important of which are Acacia Torilis.

Sharjah safari will include 12 different environments that represent the life and terrain in Africa, the animals and birds that live in it, a section for giraffes, 15 of which were released in the wild to adapt to the safari atmosphere, and an area for rhinos.

The park is open daily from 8.30am to 6.30pm. Last entry is 2pm for Gold and Silver ticket holders and 4pm for those with Bronze tickets.

The park is also be home to a large collection of samar trees, which are essential to the reserve.

The trees provide food for camels and goats in desert, as well as nectar to bees, which produce local honey.

In April 2021, Sharjah Safari Park received 121 different types of mammals, reptiles and birds, some of which have been released already to adapt to the safari atmosphere

Visitors will be able to experience the safari through 12 themed “environments”, each representing a region in Africa, and the life and terrain of the animals and birds that inhabit them.

Hana Saif Al Suwaidi, Chairperson of the Environment and Protected Areas Authority, told Gulf News: “This is the largest safari outside Africa and it consists of 12 sections, covering rare animals and endangered species. The safari includes 50,000 animals from 120 species.” More animals are expected to come in during summer.

The UAE has multiple zoos and animal reserves. Al-Ain Zoo and the Dubai Safari are among the most popular ones.

Visitors can enjoy variety of animals and landscape at Sharjah Safari.