Aquarium - Under Water Zoo » BLUFF-Jerin's Blog — a story from the original BLUFF journal. Watch the film below.
A sea inside a shopping mall
The Dubai Aquarium is the kind of sight that stops shoppers mid-stride: a wall of blue, three storeys tall, rising in the middle of Dubai Mall. Behind its giant acrylic viewing panel — one of the largest ever made, holding back around ten million litres of water — glide thousands of marine animals, including one of the world's largest collections of sand tiger sharks. The best part is that this first view costs nothing at all; the panel faces the mall's public walkway.
Through the tunnel
Buy a ticket and you walk through the 48-metre acrylic tunnel that runs across the tank's floor. Rays sweep overhead like slow birds, sharks pass close enough to count their gills, and shoals of trevally turn in unison above the glass. The tunnel's curve gives a 270-degree view, and if you time your walk with a feeding session, the water comes alive around the divers.
The Underwater Zoo above
Take the lift to the mall's top level and the Underwater Zoo continues the journey through themed zones — rainforest, rocky shore and living ocean — full of piranhas, giant spider crabs, seahorses, jellyfish and otters. Its most famous resident is King Croc, a saltwater crocodile over five metres long and among the largest in captivity, whose stillness is somehow more impressive than motion. I covered the upper floors in more detail in Part 2 of this story.
Planning your visit
The aquarium sits on the ground floor of Dubai Mall, next to the ice rink. Weekday mornings are the quietest time; evenings combine well with the fountain show outside. Beyond the standard tunnel-and-zoo ticket there are added experiences — glass-bottom boat rides on the tank's surface, cage snorkelling, and even shark dives for certified divers. Tickets are cheaper online than at the counter, and a combined ticket with the Burj Khalifa observation deck often works out best if you plan to do both.
More Dubai wonders from this journal: the laser, water and fire show and the Miracle Garden.
