UAE: Dubai Safari Park Open In 2016

The new zoo will be home to almost 1,000 animals from around the world, and out of those,there will be more than 350 species of rare and endangered animals.

Covering an area of 119 hectares and at a cost of Dh150 million, Dubai Safari Park incorporates international best practices.

It’s full steam ahead for Dubai’s new zoo with Safari Park expected to open by mid-2016, confirmed a senior official on Sunday.

Covering a total area of 119 hectares at a cost of Dh150 million, the zoo is expected to open its doors to the public within the third quarter of next year.

“The new zoo will be home to almost 1,000 animals from around the world, and out of those, there will be more than 350 species of rare and endangered animals,” said Eng Hussain Nasser Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality.

The plans for opening a new zoo to replace the current 1.5 hectare zoo at Jumeirah Road has been in the pipeline for nearly a decade, and since construction on the project started taking shape from 2012, the animals can finally look forward to relocating to their new home at Al Warqa opposite Dragon Mart.

Hanan Hassan Al Aradi, an official at Dubai Municipality working on the project, that the Safari Park’s design and layout incorporate the best practices from world-renowned safaris and zoos. “A team of specialists visited a number of the world’s best and important zoos, such as those in Indonesia, Singapore, Austria, Germany and the San Diego Zoo. It is important to note that we did not only use their best practices but also adapted them to suit the needs of Dubai,” she said.

Safari Park has been designed to be environmentally-friendly and will use solar energy, “and a hybrid operational system will be used to run the irrigation network, which will also include water recycling, waste disposal and other recycling facilities,” said Lootah.

The solar-powered park has been designed to absorb sunlight, which will then be converted into conventional electricity during night time.

“The Village Safari area is almost complete, which will house the animals. The recreational areas providing umbrellas for visitors, and the cages for animals, have already been set up. We are now putting the finishing touches to the main building, as well as to the landscaping that will feature rocks, water and greenery,” said Lootah.

The park will feature 100 different kinds of plants, each related to the area’s theme, with over 2,500 trees.

He explained that the cages have been customised to suit the local climate, and assured that the animals will be comfortable and taken care of, as each cage will be temperature-controlled. The cages have been designed to use simple, water-cooled greenhouse technology.

On the advice of a zoologist and international specialists, Dubai Municipality was able to choose the types of animals to be housed at Dubai Safari Park.

“Various types of transport will be available, which will run using solar energy, and there will be a rubber-wheeled tram and monorail capsules for visitors to see the views down below,” said Lootah.

The new zoo comprises of several themed areas, including Arabian, Asian and African villages. Some of the other attractions that visitors can look forward across a designated site of 60 hectares are an amateur golf course, a botanical garden and a butterfly garden, in addition to restaurants and a food court. There will initially be 1,600 parking spaces over two designated areas, while further down the line, the municipality intends to expand it to 3,600 parking spaces over 9.4 hectares.

Key Features Of Dubai Safari Park

Set date to open by mid-2016.

The new zoo costs Dh150 million.

Covers an area of 119 hectares at Al Warqa area, along Al Aweer Road.

Will be home to 1,000 animals – 350 species, including endangered animals.

Initially, there will be 1,600 parking spaces.

KENYA: Only 3 Nothern White Rhinos Remain In The World At Ol Pejeta Conservancy

News of the death on Sunday of one of the only four surviving northern white rhinos has hit the conservation world hard.

This comes as efforts to save the near-extinct species remain uncertain.

Now, only three known northern white rhinos remain on the planet, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, following the death of Nola, a female northern white rhino in San Diego Zoo.

Nola died aged 41 on Sunday, when a lingering infection caught up with her, leaving behind only two other females Najin, 27, and her calf, Fatu, 13, and one male, Sudan, 43, under armed guard at the conservancy.

A statement from San Diego Zoo said Nola, who lived there since 1989, was under veterinary care for a bacterial infection, as well as age-related health issues.

She had begun her life in the savannahs of Sudan and was captured in 1975 and taken to the Králové Zoo, in the Czech Republic where she has spent two decades.

“In the last 24 hours, Nola’s condition worsened and we made the difficult decision to euthanize her.

“We are absolutely devastated by this loss, but resolve to fight even harder to end extinction,” the statement said.

Ol Pejeta, is together with Králové Zoo, trying to raise USD 1 million towards this with a GoFundMe campaign called 'Make a Rhino’.

“We feel really bad it’s (extinction) happening on our watch,” said Andy Blue, associate curator of mammals for the San Diego Zoo, about Nola’s death.

The zoo’s world-famous conservation programme has rescued other species from the brink of extinction, and it had been trying to breed northern white rhinos since Nola first arrived in 1989.

But the reproductive habits of the northern white rhino proved tough to make it happen in captivity.

The three rhinos left in Kenya are, however, considered by scientists too old or ill to reproduce.

The future of this subspecies now lies in the development of in vitro fertilisation techniques and stem cell technology, costly and complicated procedures that have never before been attempted on rhinos.

The animals were moved to Kenya from Dvu016Fr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic in 2009, along with one other male northern white rhino who subsequently died at Ol Pejeta.

“It was hoped that more natural conditions would encourage mating, but as several fruitless years passed, staff at Ol Pejeta were forced to explore alternatives,” said a statement dispatched by the Ol Pejeta Conservancy on November, 24 2015.

Unless a technique for rhino IVF or stem cell technology can be funded, developed, tested and implemented, the northern white rhino will become extinct.

A team of experts led by IZW Leibnitz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Berlin has been working with Dvu016Fr Králové and Ol Pejeta on this.

The 'Make a Rhino’ campaign on GoFundMe aims to raise funds to assist in the research necessary to save the species.

Ol Pejeta Conservancy is appealing to people all over the world to help towards the IVF initiative.

“We wouldn’t be asking people to donate if we didn’t truly believe that there was one last ray of hope for saving the northern white rhino” says Ol Pejeta CEO, Richard Vigne.

“It is by no means straightforward, but saving a subspecies from extinction in an age where science is capable of so many extraordinary things - I believe it can be done.

“All we need is for citizens around the world to club together to save the northern white rhino for future generations,” he added.