Planning a visit to Sharjah Safari Park? Learn about ticket options, opening times, seasonal closures, must know tips, and common mistakes to avoid for a smooth safari experience with family or friends.
The most common Sharjah Safari Park story goes like this. A family plans the trip for weeks, drives an hour out to Al Dhaid on a Friday, and learns at the gate that last entry for the bus tour passed hours ago. The second most common story involves showing up in July, when the park isn’t open at all.
Both are avoidable. Sharjah Safari Park is the largest safari park outside Africa, an 8 square kilometre stretch of the Al Bridi Nature Reserve where lions, giraffes, elephants and rhinos live in open country instead of enclosures. It’s cheap to enter, easy to reach by car, and slightly confusing to plan around. This guide handles the planning part.
The park opened in February 2022 inside Al Bridi, near the oasis town of Al Dhaid. Sharjah’s environment authority built it as a piece of Africa transplanted into the Gulf, down to the baobab trees, and the scale is what separates it from every zoo in the country. More than 120 species live across the zones. Lions, cheetahs, crocodiles, zebras, flamingos, elephants. Both rhino types as well, and the black rhino is a big deal, critically endangered everywhere on earth. The breeding programme here has already produced a white rhino calf named Wuhaida, born on site rather than shipped in.
One more thing you’ll notice from the car park: shade structures, everywhere. The whole place was engineered around them because summers out here pass 40°C, and they’re a large part of why the animals look relaxed rather than miserable.
Families with kids under twelve get the best version of this place. The walking loop is short, the giraffes come close, and children who like animals will not want to leave. Photographers do well too, since open habitat means no fence wire cutting through your shots.
Now the other side. It’s a slow day. There are no rides, no arcade, nothing loud. You walk, you look, you wait for a rhino to feel like moving. Teenagers who’d rather be at a mall will let you know about it.
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Three options, and the names do most of the explaining. Bronze is the walking ticket, around 40 dirhams for adults and AED 15 for kids, covering the Into Africa zone only. Budget two to three hours for it. Silver costs about AED 120 per adult (AED 50 per child) and adds the guided bus loop through Sahel, Savannah, Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Moremi, with a break at Safari Camp partway through. If it’s your first visit, Silver is the one to book. Gold sits at roughly AED 275 and AED 120, trading the bus for a private vehicle, your own guide, and a walking stretch inside the Serengeti. Nice for an occasion, unnecessary otherwise.
Children’s pricing runs from age 3 to 12, under-12s need an adult with them, and rates move between seasons. Check the official site before paying anyone, resellers included.
You don’t drive yourself. Whatever ticket you hold, your car stays in the free car park at the gate and the park handles transport from there.
Walkers start down Baobab Avenue, past the aviaries, and finish at Zanzibar Village, which doubles as the lunch stop and does the job well. Bus and Gold visitors then head out through the regions in order: Sahel, Savannah, Serengeti (where a thick pane of glass gets you a photo far closer to a lion than feels reasonable), Ngorongoro with its black rhinos, and finally Moremi Village, where the tamer residents wander up near the path to see you off.
Gates open around 8:30 in the morning during the season, which runs roughly October to early summer. Mornings are better in every way. The animals move about before the heat arrives, and the walking route at 9am in January is a completely different experience to the same route at noon.
Mistake one is the late arrival. Last entry for the Silver and Gold tours falls in the early afternoon, well before the walking cutoff, so a 3pm arrival usually means a wasted drive. Mistake two is the summer trip. The park closes through the hottest months, and anyone planning anything from June to September should confirm the dates before leaving the house.
Al Dhaid Road, Al Bridi area. From central Sharjah that’s 40 to 50 minutes; from Dubai, an hour or so depending on what Emirates Road is doing. Drive if you can. Public transport barely reaches this part of the emirate, and a taxi home at closing time is a gamble. If the trip is part of a bigger weekend, our UAE travel and lifestyle guides can fill out the rest of it, and the Dubai air taxi piece makes decent reading for whoever isn’t driving.
For the price, yes, and it isn’t close. Bronze entry costs less than most cinema tickets in the UAE. The fairer question is Sharjah versus Dubai Safari Park, and that comes down to taste. Dubai fits more species into less space. Sharjah gives fewer animals far more room and feels much closer to a real safari because of it. I’d take Sharjah for the atmosphere and Dubai for the variety.
As for packing, keep it simple: water, sunscreen, a cap, shoes you can walk in. Book Silver or Gold online before winter weekends because slots run out, and ask at the entrance lodge if you need a stroller or wheelchair.
Where is Sharjah Safari Park located?
Inside the Al Bridi Nature Reserve on Al Dhaid Road, Sharjah. Google Maps finds it under “Sharjah Safari.”
How much are Sharjah Safari Park tickets?
AED 40 for Bronze, AED 120 for Silver and AED 275 for Gold, all per adult, with children paying less. Rates shift between seasons, so confirm before booking.
What are the park timings?
Around 8:30am to early evening in season. Bus and private tours stop admitting visitors in the early afternoon, so go in the morning.
Is Sharjah Safari Park open in summer?
Not usually. It closes through the hottest months and reopens in autumn.
Can I take my own car inside?
No. Cars stay at the gate.
How long does a visit take?
Two to three hours on a Bronze ticket, or most of a day once you add the bus tour and a proper lunch stop.
Is it suitable for toddlers?
Yes. The walking loop is short, strollers are available at the entrance lodge, and the giraffes alone will hold their attention.
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