Ever seen a orangutan up close? Well, I have – in Umm Al Quwain (of all the places on this planet).
The Zoo Wild Park has a adorable orangutan named “Habooba”. She is VERY VERY naughty!!! So be careful and guard your stuff.
[Helpful hint: Habooba will love if you talk to her like a friend, and not like an animal.]
She is not caged so you can touch her and give her food. She eats and drinks a lot of stuff. If you pop in to the cafe, just ask them for the snacks that Habooba likes. They do sell some food for animals at the entrance.
Now, Ms. Habooba is not the only attraction in this zoo. They have vultures, bears, tigers, parrots, turtles, lemurs, giraffes, goats and some more animals.
Some of the animals have large places to roam in but others like the bears are in much smaller enclosures, so some people might find it very disturbing.
The parrot enclosure is huge and you can go in to hold and feed them. You can get chopped apples or pears with you and feed them that. Some of the parrots are large and others are smaller.
You can also go inside the lemur cage but this costs an extra AED 20 per person. It is absolutely worth it though. Lemurs are adorable. They come close to you, smell the food from your hand and start eating. We had about 10-20 mins in the cage. Food was also provided. You can get your own as well – pieces of corn, chopped carrots or chopped apples, for instance.
The larger lemurs were more well behaved than the smaller lemurs (who are in a separate cage). The smaller ones just jump at you so caution is advised!!! Usually, you get to go into only one cage but the second time I went, I think we went to both cages.
Anything else, you ask? Yes, you can feed the various animals. There is also horse riding. I’m not sure if they still have camel riding.
One more amazing that they have is being able to touch a tiger. This costs an additional AED 200 per person. Basically, they bring the tiger to a separate enclosure (and give them something to make them sleepy, I think) and then take a video of you touching the tiger from behind.
Warning: As all my students know, I’m very vocal about Muslim women not photographing or videotaping themselves because it goes against the concept of hijab. Therefore, only the men should attempt this activity – unless the women just want to touch the tiger without getting videotaped.
The Zoo also has a small cafe and also a small supermarket stall so food should not be an issue. It also has toilets and prayer rooms as well, alhamdulillah.
Overall, this was an refreshing place. I really love it, not just the animals but the whole look of the place. Here are some pics I took (no animals can be seen obviously):
The only two problems it has is that it is very far for most people. Also, it can get quite hot so make sure to either go really early in the day or in the late afternoon.
There is a desert area right outside the place and it is beautiful.
Price: AED 25 for ages 1+. AED 20 for Lemur feeding and AED 5 for the food. The tiger encounter is AED 200.
Timings: They are open daily but their timings differ in winter and in summer. Also, some animals sleep early so please check their website for their timings.
Location: Kabir, Umm Al-Quwain You can find the location on Google Maps here.
Website: https://thezoopark.com/
Phone Number:+971 58 6088888
Parking: There’s free parking outside the zoo
Places to see nearby: Banshee Bike Rental (for Quad Biking activities)