Tourists have slammed Dubai Safari Park where they claim animals hide from the heat and the monkeys seem depressed.
Dubai Safari Park opened in 2017 and is home to more than 2,500 animals from more than 250 species.
The park's website says it "aims to be one of the top 10 zoos internationally and a leading tourist destination worldwide attracting recognition from the international community for its work in maintaining a high standard of animal welfare, nutrition and ethical conduct."
The park has proved very popular with visitors in the five years since it opened, with over 300 people reviewing it on Tripadvisor.
Of the 312 reviews however, 66 of them were marked as "terrible" and given just one star – the worst possible rating on the travel platform.
That number marks 21% of all reviews, while 35 reviewed the park as "poor", a total of 11%.
It has an average rating of three and a half out of five.
One reason which safari-goers gave for the poor reviews was the lack of animal welfare.
One user wrote: "The gorillas and chimpanzees appear depressed. Reading older posts this seems to be a continuing issue that is not new and, irrespective of the messages from the management (warm greetings etc), nothing seems to have been done.
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"It is cruel if their welfare is not taken into consideration. I believe the Park can, and should, do much better.
"Reptile house enclosures are very small for many species – again, a repeated complaint in older posts and probably will continue to be an issue unless the management adopt a healthier respect for the animals under their care."
Another user said: "The staff are not interested in their work, rude and uneducated in the way of wildlife. But that's what can be expected when the management treat staff so bad."
A third added: "WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!!! One of the worst experience I ever made, we honestly saw NO ANIMALS AT ALL, except to be honest we saw a donkey, sheep and an ostrich also couple of spiders and couple snakes. The rest of the animals either ran away or hiding from the heat.
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"The funny part when we asked one of the supervisors he smiled and said all hidden coz of heat!!!! WHAT!!! ARE YOU FXXXXXG KIDDING ME!!
"We paid huge amount of money and kept paying all the way and everywhere and for everything and you telling no animals coz of heat!!!!
"So why it’s open? Why you scam people? Open at winter time only."
One reviewer was so disappointed that they called the experience "by far the most disappointing experience in our 10 years of living in the UAE".
The Daily Star has contacted Dubai Safari Park for comment.
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