From a Wasteland to a Zoo

Happy 2026!!! I hope y’all had a really swell time celebrating the new year, before coming back to this dull, drudging routine that most of us have to come back to. I hope time moves slower, really. I’m a slow person. Time moving that fast, means that I’m growing older, fatter, duller, uglier… faster than I want it to be… But what the heck, that’s life! We’ve just gotta accept it.

Anyway, here’s another filler of a post. Haven’t sorted out any photo from our more recent trips, or times, so here’s a New Year from ummm, let’s see, …5 years ago! (It’s that long ago, huh?!!) When we welcomed in Year 2021 with a trip to the zoo! Or more appropriately, to the Dubai Safari Park! Here goes!


Dubai Safari Park, Dubai, UAE, Jan 2021

The Dubai Safari Park was built on a landfill. Yup, that’s correct, we could see it from far away, heaped high with waste like a hill, from the many trucks that make their way there (I think mainly from the many construction sites in Dubai).


All of this was a landfill??? Heck yeah, no kidding…


That’s the main building and entrance of the Dubai Safari Park


The sign says it all… Kids Farm!


Is this Dubai?? Looks more Indonesian (or Malaysian) to me. But the park/ zoo features places like the African Village, and the Asian Village, and… what have you. This must be the Asian Village


The central area that connects all the different villages features a nice park surrounding a man-made river


Rest areas and food kiosks! When you’re tired and hungry


And of course, its inhabitants! What’s a zoo without the animals?!? Don’t ask me what those are… I ain’t an animal expert


But of course, I know this. It’s a giraffe!


And that, is a very dangerous bird, the cassowary. It can disembowel humans with a single kick from its legs which features dagger-like claws… Don’t say you weren’t warned


And how can you not feature the Arabian Oryx in a zoo in Dubai?


The Grand Aviary!


A bird show! One of the many shows in the park. Go catch it if you can. It’s worth it, one of the highlights of our visit, I’d say. Special praise to that Bird-Lady in the front, (on the right of the photo). She did a great job entertaining us with the birds (she also featured in another show with the little mammals, I recall…)


That, in the distance, is Adventure Valley… a play area for kids, I think... I wouldn’t know coz it was closed on the day of our visit, bummer!


One last photo before I end the post – Here’s a blast from the past – a photo of the original ‘Dubai Zoo’ in Jumeirah, in January 2015! It was closed down for good in 2017, and all its animals shifted to the current Dubai Safari Park. Dubai Zoo was in a pretty small area, and received a lot of criticism for how its animals were kept in its latter years. That may be one of the reasons why Dubai built a much better zoo, and from landfill. Bravo Dubai, for making a beautiful zoo / park out of a wasteland!