Fancy stepping into a rainforest but can’t afford the airfare? You might be in the desert but you can still get a taste of the jungle here in the UAE.
The Green Planet in Dubai’s City Walk is a bio-dome designed to educate guests on the dangers facing the world’s rainforests. It is an immersive experience, designed to allow its inhabitants to live as they would in the wild, with a broadly diverse ecosystem of creatures and jungle creatures.
The dome is home to more than 3,000 different fauna, flora and wildlife, and is has its own jungle-like ecosystem (which feels less humid than outside at this time of year).
Using leading scientists, zoologists and architects from around the world, the giant, 45 metre-tall cube-like structure is built around a man-made tree that stands 25 metres tall.
Start inside the Flooded Forest, around which an aquarium of stingrays, arapaima, turtles and more swim. Gazing upwards through a cavernous hole, vines, branches and the canopy of the tree splay out like a network of natural pathways.
The indoor tropical rainforest also has sloths, twin tamarin brothers and plenty of birds, as well as reptiles and insects.
It’s not all cute and fluffy though – The Green Planet is now home to 1,000 flesh-eating piranhas, too, which you can watch being fed daily (gulp).
And if you’re not afraid of the dark, then take a step into the bat-cave, too, for a fun, up-close experience with the flying critters.
Dhs99 (adults), Dhs74 (kids aged three-11). Open Sun-Wed 10am-7pm; Thu-Sat 10am-8pm. City Walk, Al Safa Street, Dubai, www.thegreenplanetdubai.com.
