Unspecified/General

Inside the broader Creek Park complex on the southern shore of Dubai Creek in central Dubai, the Dubai Dolphinarium is the largest indoor marine-mammal entertainment facility in the broader United Arab Emirates and one of the few dedicated dolphinarium facilities operating anywhere in the broader Middle East region. The 5,000-square-metre indoor complex opened in May 2008, occupying a dedicated purpose-built facility immediately adjacent to the main pedestrian entry of the broader Creek Park. The facility houses a resident population of five Black Sea bottlenose dolphins and four northern fur seals, all of which were imported from a specialised marine-mammal breeding facility in Crimea during the original 2008 facility setup. The resident population has been continuously maintained and supplemented through the subsequent years, with the most recent additions including several individual dolphins born at the facility through the resident breeding programme. The facility is organised around two principal marine-mammal pools. The central performance pool occupies the centre of the principal interior arena, with the 1,250-seat tiered amphitheatre seating bowl arranged in a semi-circular configuration around the eastern, southern and western sides of the pool. The smaller training-and-husbandry pool is housed in a separate adjacent enclosure used for the daily training, feeding and veterinary care of the resident population. The principal visitor offering is the celebrated 45-minute Dolphin and Seal Show, presented multiple times daily in the central performance arena. The show features extensive trained behaviours by both the dolphins and the seals, with the routines combining traditional marine-mammal stunts (jumping for fish, balancing balls on the nose, propelling trainers across the surface of the pool) with several musical and choreographed routines that interpret the relationships between the marine mammals and their human trainers. A separate Swim with the Dolphins programme allows visitors to enter the central pool for direct in-water interaction with the dolphins under the supervision of trained handlers. A separate Dolphin Photography programme allows visitors to pose for photographs with dolphins from a pool-side platform. The complex also includes a small Mirror Maze, a small Creek Park Mini-Aquarium and the celebrated annual Birds of the World indoor bird show featuring several dozen exotic parrots and other birds from around the world.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Riyadh Street, Creek Park Gate 1, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Telephone: 04-336-9773

Website: dubaidolphinarium.ae

Capacity: 1250

Opening Date: 04/05/2008