Travel UAE

Tag: nature

  • Buhais Geology Museum

    Buhais Geology Museum

    We visited the Buhais Geological Museum in Sharjah. There are two highlights of this place:

    1. The Theater: Animated visuals explain the unique features of the location and why the museum was built there. After the presentation, the screen slides away to reveal a panoramic window with stunning views of the mountain and surrounding landscape.
    2. The Walking Trail: A nearly 1-kilometer-long trail through the foothills where you can try to spot ancient fossilized marine organisms or shells. The trail is far from civilization, allowing you to admire colorful rocks and the unique mountain formations of the local ridge.

    The museum displays stones and many fossilized shells of ancient creatures that lived in the ocean depths millions of years ago.

    After exploring and walking, you can enjoy a coffee at the museum’s café and later indulge in an outdoor dinner under the stars.

    GPS: 25.019605, 55.796832
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    Photos

  • Dubai Crocodile Park

    Dubai Crocodile Park

    I visited the crocodiles at Dubai Crocodile Park. Outside, the 25-year-old adult crocodiles were relaxing, while the 5-year-old juveniles in the aquarium were much more active. They look incredibly intimidating when rushing toward you, hoping for food. The aquarium is undoubtedly the most striking feature of the park and alone makes it worth a visit.
    The park also features a museum, a café, and the option to sign up for a crocodile feeding experience.
    Adding to the unique atmosphere, the park is situated near the glide path of Dubai Airport, so every few minutes, planes pass overhead, enhancing the unusual vibe of the place.

    GPS: 25.202835, 55.440891
    Google Maps
    Photos: 1, 2

  • Dubai Safari Park

    Dubai Safari Park

    Dubai Safari Park is a large park perfect for the whole family, offering a wide variety of animals and an abundance of greenery and flowers. One of the highlights is the safari experience, where you are seated on a bus and taken on a 30-minute (or a shorter 10-minute) guided tour through enclosures featuring different animals. Every half hour, there’s an opportunity to feed giraffes by hand. We were waiting in line for this experience, but despite the scheduled time, it wasn’t opening. It turned out they were waiting for a VIP tour. A group of local men arrived, and while mothers with children were kept waiting in a “pen” under the heat, this “special” procession calmly fed the giraffes. It was quite an odd scene to witness.
    We visited on a weekday morning, and there were plenty of school buses with children, leading to queues in some areas. By around 11 a.m., the crowds had thinned out.
    You can explore the park on foot or use internal transportation to reach specific zones. While the park isn’t enormous, the winding paths make walking under the midday sun quite exhausting. It’s a good idea to plan your visit, decide which areas you’d like to explore, and purchase the appropriate tickets (you can buy them online or at least review what’s available and included). Sticking to a plan will make your visit smoother.
    Right at the entrance, there’s a large Children’s Zone with a petting zoo. Kids can interact with goats and sheep in an open area or observe donkeys, parrots, and other animals.

    GPS: 25.176584, 55.447963
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    Photos

  • Dubai Miracle Garden

    Dubai Miracle Garden

    Dubai Miracle Garden is a large outdoor flower garden featuring various cartoon installations and even a real airplane covered in flowers. The park is not open year-round, so check its operating schedule. It’s a must-visit for flower enthusiasts and anyone who enjoys vibrant colors and beautiful displays.

    GPS: 25.059491, 55.245162
    Google Maps
    Photos: 1, 2

  • The Green Planet

    The Green Planet

    The Green Planet is an indoor mini-zoo in a tropical climate in Dubai. One of its highlights is a scheduled tropical rainstorm, during which actual rain falls throughout the enclosure.

    Inside, you’ll find a wide variety of birds, parrots, and other animals, as well as sections featuring snakes, fish, and more. The experience starts with an elevator ride to the top and a spiral path that gradually leads you back through the exhibits.

    While most animals can’t be touched, parrots are the exception. However, caution is advised with larger parrots—they can deliver a painful bite if provoked and can be pretty persistent in seeking attention.

    GPS: 25.206534, 55.260457
    Google Maps
    Photos: 1, 2

  • Khor Kalba Mangrove Centre

    Khor Kalba Mangrove Centre

    Khor Kalba Mangrove Centre is a small nature reserve located on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. It is a peninsula with a small amount of shallow mangrove forest and, in some ways, an untouched natural habitat with diverse flora and fauna. It’s like a little sanctuary.

    The park features a museum complex and a café where you can cool off from the heat, admire aquarium wildlife, and learn about the various species that inhabit the area.

    The rest of the experience is outdoors. There’s a turtle pool, a pavilion with birds and gazelles running around, a bridge over a canal, and a small walking path through the mangroves. Additionally, several informative signs throughout the area offer insights into the local wildlife.

    GPS: 25.015033, 56.360364
    Google Maps
    Photos: 1, 2

  • Al Ain Oasis

    Al Ain Oasis

    The Al Ain Oasis, located in the city of Al Ain in the Abu Dhabi emirate, is a remarkable attraction. Al Ain is the fourth most populous city in the UAE and the greenest city I’ve seen here, with greenery and flowers lining all the roads—even outside the city limits.

    The Al Ain Oasis is genuinely captivating in its beauty. It was the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the UAE, covering 1,200 hectares, featuring 147,000 date palms, and housing hundreds of eco-friendly farms.

    On-site, things might not look as magical as described, but strolling for an hour through the palm forest, accompanied by birdsong, is a peaceful experience. It’s extraordinary in the desert-dominated Emirates. However, the walk is restricted to paved paths, and you can’t wander off into the palm groves. Some parts of the trail abruptly end with piles of debris, old palm branches, and other refuse. As is often the case, the area could use finer touches to make it truly enjoyable. There are some signs, but I didn’t come across any clear maps of the walking routes.

    Online sources suggest renting a bicycle or a pedal cart at the entrance, as the park is said to be massive. I think it’s not so large that you can’t explore all the accessible and developed paths on foot in about an hour or a little more.

    There are markets on weekends, and I imagine that during date harvest season, you can grab some fresh ones to try.

    Al Ain also boasts many other fascinating spots, some of which I’ll mention later.

    GPS: 24.218399, 55.762195
    Google Maps
    Photos: 1, 2