If you’re scratching your head about how to spend the upcoming National Day weekend, then here’s an idea for you. Why not head to the much-anticipated opening of Dubai Safari.

On Thursday, Timothy Husband, technical director of Dubai Safari, confirmed the park will officially open on December 2 – a date perfectly timed with the annual celebrations to mark the UAE’s National Day. And he also confirmed to Khaleej Times that the park received two of its newest additions to the growing family of animals on Thursday – a pair of common hippopotamus.

“Right now Dubai Safari has 1,800 animals already housed at the park and we will be welcoming an additional 1,000 (approx.), mainly birds and reptiles, from Dubai Zoo when it closes next month.”

Built with a capacity to house 5,000 animals in total, the park will be opening with about 3,000 to start off with, with over 500 different types of species on view to the public.

“We never fill to capacity when opening parks like this because we have to allow room for breeding,” he said.

With the majority of animals at Dubai Safari coming from overseas, Husband said this allows for better “genetic diversity”.

Although Husband said he was not sure if any special discounts would be available during its opening weekend, he did confirm that “entry prices are already way below” that of other attraction parks in the UAE.

More about the park

Speaking back in September, Hussain Nasser Lootah, director-general of the Dubai Municipality, said the Dubai Frame and Dubai Safari will be unveiled to the public around the same time. So with both attractions set to open within days of each other, there will be plenty of options to keep revellers busy during the National Day weekend.

Spread over 119 hectares and located at Al Warqa-5 (near Dragon Mart), the Dh1-billion project will dedicate 80 hectares for the villages representing different regions of the world and 35 hectares for the Open Safari village. The park will dwarf Dubai’s current main animal attraction, Dubai Zoo, which is set to close for good next month.

Though the park is still not open to the public, it is already teaming with life. Earlier in August, two rare male and female white lion cubs were born at the facility.