Dubai Dolphinarium, the first of five concepts of Dubai Marine World, at the Creekside Park opened its doors to the public in style with a special charity dolphin and seal program for children with special needs to mark the occasion.

Ahmed AbdulKarim, director of Public Parks and Horticulture Department at Dubai Municipality, said that the Dhs33 million ($8.9 million) edutainment facility, undertaken by the civic body in conjunction with Royal Segrex, formed part of its initiative to involve private firms in setting up various long-term investment projects in the emirate and offer the public a variety of recreational and edutainment projects.

'We have a long term vision to support and encourage the private sector to engage in various activities deemed to be in the best interest of the public. The objective is to establish the ways and means whereby people's lives can be enriched by promoting a wide range of family entertainment with an element of education,' he said at a press conference.

This facility will include a water circus show, dolphin therapy, dolphin sighting excursions, and lectures among others, he added.

Municipality has been taking initiative and actively supporting all projects that contribute towards a better quality of life for Dubai residents; especially children and youth, AbdulKarim said.

“Dubai Dolphinarium is an example of that, offering the broad public a variety of entertainment, educational and therapeutic programs. The project is very special and represents a real added value to the society, because it offers a variety of activities that address and cover many important aspects such as education, entertainment, therapy and research. Thus it represents an appealing diversification for both residents and tourists from all round the world,” he said.

Christopher Richardson, managing director of Dubai Dolphinarium, said the facility will accommodate as many as 1,250 visitors. There are 4.5 million liters of continuously purified sea water in an arena pool, habitat pool, medical and seal pool that the mammals live in.

To support the health and welfare of the dolphins and seals, there is a marine mammal laboratory, fish preparation rooms and technical support rooms, he noted.

'On each side of the dolphinarium we have marine themed classrooms for our science and conservation focused educational programs, a multimedia library and a new concept kids gym. Our education and activity programs will be offered for summer camp,' he noted.

'The programs will include opportunities to learn about dolphins and seals close up, to learn how dolphins and seals are trained and the basics of animal husbandry for both feeding and medical care,' Richardson explained.

The dolphinarium will offer both UAE residents and visitors from neighboring countries and the rest of the world the chance to enjoy the highly skilled and choreographed performances of dolphins and sea lions.

In addition to that, it will have a Marine Mammal Education Center led by a team of marine mammal scientists and dolphin specialists.

The center shall offer various lectures and shows introducing both children and adults to the nature and habitat of these amazing intelligent mammals and how we can learn and help preserve the several species of dolphins that exist in the Gulf waters.

There will also be photo sessions, where children can have their pictures taken with dolphins and sea lions. Kids will also have the chance to have a video taken with them in a little rubber boat being pulled around the pool by a dolphin.

Another program is swimming with dolphins, which will allow people to swim supervised for 10-30 minutes in a group or as an individual with a dolphin, they can also try to be pulled by a dolphin and experience talking with dolphins, he explained.

'Excursions would be organized by experienced skippers, offering peopl