What’s On has details of another exciting new things to do in Dubai, the Dubai Safari Park. We tell you when it will open and give you full details.

Dubai Safari Park, a Dhs150million development set to cover more than 120 hectares and house more than 1,000 animals, is on schedule to be completed by the end of 2015.

Based in Al Warqa, opposite DragonMart, work is already well under way on the energy efficient state-of-the-art facility which will serve as a replacement for the Dubai Zoo, a 1.5-hectare site that has stood at Jumeriah Road for almost half a century.

Speaking to Gulf News on May 9, a Dubai Municipality official confirmed the project is on track, saying: “The project is smoothly running on track and will be completed by the end of 2015. The project consists of 12 phases, and within the next few weeks we are going to start construction on the Safari Village. The wadi has already been completed.”

The park, which is situated on a former landfill site, will pull in animals and environments from all around the world and will be split into four distinct areas, Africa, Asia, Arabian Village and ‘open safari’. There will also be 1,600 parking spaces, with expansion plans for a further 2,000.

The announcement of significant progress is a huge relief to those behind the project, more than a decade after plans were first submitted. In 2005, it was announced that the safari park would be built at Mushrif Park before, two years later, it was shifted to Dubailand, where it would cover 350 hectares. That was subsequently scrapped in the wake of the global financial crisis.

The safari park is the latest boost to Dubai tourism, with numerous other projects accelerating towards completion, including Aladdin City at Dubai Creek, Palm Jumeirah Boardwalk and shopping malls, the Corniche and BluewatersIslands.