VIDEO: Dubai Safari welcomes first animals

In a series of posts on Dubai Municipality’s Instagram account, it has been announced that the first animals have arrived at Dubai Safari Park.

According to reports, the first animals arrived from Seoul Grand Park in Korea on Monday. Technical Director at Dubai Safari, Timothy Husband, said that they received “nine lions, four bears, nine monkeys and ten bats from Korea.”

“What we’ve done in the last 14 months is travel around the world looking for animals at different zoos,” he continued. ”Finding the best genetics so that Dubai Safari will have the best genetics possible of every type of animal available in zoos today.”

A video posted by Dubai Municipality بلدية دبي (@dubaimunicipality) on Mar 15, 2016 at 8:36am PDT

Occupying 119 hectares of land, Dubai safari, which will replace Dubai Zoo, is expected to open at the beginning of next year. The $40.8 million project will be home to 1,000 animals, including 350 rare species. Some of the animal enclosures will be temperature controlled, and the park will use environmentally-friendly systems, including solar energy.

A video posted by Dubai Municipality بلدية دبي (@dubaimunicipality) on Mar 15, 2016 at 7:10am PDT

Many have been speculating that the park is due to open in mid-2016, however, Dubai Municipality captioned one the videos: “Dubai Safari welcomes its first batch of animals in preperation for its opening at the beginning of next year.”

on Mar 15, 2016 at 11:41am PDT

Attractions include an hour-long tour in an air conditioned jeep and a safari trip on the back of an elephant. There will even be a cave for nocturnal animals that visitors can see with special glasses. Animal encounter areas are also being constructed, including a giraffe feeding area.

The park will make use of solar energy and recycling to make it as environmentally friendly as possible. As well as over 1,000 animals, the park will has over 100 different kinds of plans, and more than 2,500 trees.