sharjah desert park

After multiple trips to the UAE, I finally made it out to the Sharjah Desert Park home to Sharjah's Natural History Museum, Children Farm, and Arabia Wildlife Center. (I skipped the Children Farm... I don't want to know about that.)

The Desert Park is a hefty drive out of Sharjah, so the distance has been cost prohibitive in the past. This weekend Scott is away, and George told us to take the car and see some of the sights. The car was useful for getting to part 2 of our tour dubai series, and we would not have made the journey out to the Desert Park without it.

On to some pictures.

The less than full parking lot for the Sharjah Natural History and Botanical Garden.

The first hall within the Natural History Museum is filled with marine life suspended from the ceiling. The hanging sharks and fish had the effect of lowering my expectations.

Oops! Someone forgot to write the English translation for this kiosk. 

Awwwwwwe. This model sand cat made me happy. It's not quite Squeak, but I want to find one of this elusive cats for Webb.

Oh yeah? How about a little amoxicillin for those survivors?

The Camel -- the national animal of the UAE

Some people need help to tell the camel's mouth from its rear.

The museum even had 'splosions! of life!! in Arabic!!!

The dinosaurs were pretty neat. Every natural history museum should have at least one dinosaur.

The Botanical Garden side of the museum had several interactive exhibits. You could braid rope, play with a xylophone, smell different plants, and even find out the energy value of different compounds. Here, Tophi is seen enthusiastically playing the xylophone. In case you missed the connection, too, the xylophone is made of wood. Trees are a type of plant, obviously...

After wandering through the Natural History Museum and skipping over the Children Farm (whawhawhattt?), we went to the Arabia Wildlife Center. Live animals are always pretty cool, but the Wildlife Center was not cool with photography. You can pretend to have seen countless exhibits on snakes, rodents, birds, and mammals. And if you thought the taxidermy sand cat was cute, then you really missed out on two live sand cats running around the Center.

What a great day to celebrate the natural environment that is so often tarnished by Emirati progress! I'll close with the Desert Park's recycling initiative.

The Sharjah Desert Park is leading the way for alternative sorting.

Posted in: culture,leisure photos,sharjah