The rainforest – Green Planet
Can’t have a rainforest in Dubai? Think again! The city is home not only to an indoor ski slope, but also to an indoor rainforest called The Green Planet, a must-see attraction in Dubai!
The Green Planet’s indoor jungle took over three years to build, but the result is a true paradise for nature lovers. Inside this 45-meter-high structure, you’ll discover a complete tropical forest, with temperatures maintained between 25 and 28 degrees Celsius and humidity levels of 70%, faithfully reproducing jungle conditions. More than 3,000 living organisms, including numerous tropical plants, spiders, snakes, flying birds, fish and frogs, cohabit this unique jungle.
The rainforest is centred around a 25-metre-high artificial tree, to which living plants are attached. These plants should completely cover the artificial tree in a few years’ time. The construction of this ecosystem, and the development of its flora and fauna, were carried out in close collaboration with various zoological experts and biologists, ensuring that the interior rainforest is a faithful replica of a real jungle, where plants and animals can reproduce naturally.
Exploring Dubai’s inner jungle
The La Planète Verte building is constructed in several layers corresponding to the different habitats of the rainforest. You begin your exploration on the first floor of the jungle. In the “flooded forest”, you can admire aquariums filled with turtles, rays and arapaima fish.
After the flooded forest, you can climb one floor to the waterfall, where you can admire the rainforest up close on one of the narrow paths. You’ll see tropical plants, frogs and lizards. On the ground are various insects, including weaver ants, a special species of ant from Southeast Asia that makes nests by gluing leaves together. You’ll also find spiders and snakes, including the Goliath bird spider, a tarantula with a wingspan of up to 30 cm, but fortunately the snakes and spiders are behind glass.
Many colorful birds fly in the sky, including the world’s largest species of toucan, the giant toucan. The two sloths who live at La Planète Verte are also very special. You may encounter both the male and female of these animals as you explore the jungle. It’s forbidden to touch the animals at La Planète Verte, but a butterfly may suddenly land on your shoulder.
Finally, you can take the elevator to the highest point of the biodome, from where you’ll have a magnificent panoramic view of the rainforest, its waterfalls, plants and animals, while hearing the distinctive sounds of the jungle in the background.
Nature awareness
The Green Planet is more than just an attraction; it’s also committed to raising visitors’ awareness of the beauty of nature and its fragility in the face of climate change and deforestation. That’s why the fish aren’t wild-caught, but come from a breeder in Singapore, and the plants are imported from Thailand and India.
For children in particular, 15 different learning programs have been designed around five themes and adapted to three different age groups: 3 to 6, 7 to 11 and 12 to 14. The aim is to provide young people with the knowledge they need about the specific habitat of the tropical rainforest.
