The New Year comes bearing good news for the people in UAE as former technical director of Dubai Safari Park, Tim Husband, said about the park “Yes, it will. It will reopen this year for sure… maybe within months…People will be surprised”, in an interview with Gulf News.
The park initially closed in summer 2018 with plans to open in October 2018 but that did not come to pass as the park opened prematurely and the thousands of visitors, who visited Safari for free in the first two weeks caused damages to the gardens. Tim Husband said, “They had no respect for the park. They killed so many plants. The restaurants were not ready. People littered things and trampled the gardens.”
A great regret for not delivering what was promised initially Husband said, “We could not deliver the best for His Highness [Shaikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai],” “We could not give him the best that he deserved. We shouldn’t have opened before we were completely ready,” he said.
New Beginnings:
Many things have been happening behind the closed doors of Safari, Husband revealed.
Many species, including some endangered ones, have been breeding and much more has been happening behind the closed doors of the park.
“There are babies everywhere… there are literally hundreds… Animals have been breeding so much that we had to separate some male and female ones” Husband added.
Shows: Exhibiting the natural habitats of the different animals, many shows have been prepared for the visitors.
“They were only doing the bird show earlier. We now have a bigger show with birds and mammals. They have been getting the animals ready, practicing ever since the Safari closed. There will be a dog show and another show of birds of prey in the grass area as well.”
Exchange Programmes: The park is being built on an animal collection set planned till 2025, Husband wishes to implement an animal exchange programmes with other zoos and adapting other best practices. “Animals are disappearing and zoos around the world hold a collection of animals, a living ark. In some designated national parks, zoos have helped to put the animals back into the forest. Dubai Safari will have a good gene pool of several species of animals, the seeds for the future,” he said.
