The coral reef exhibit at the Oman Aquarium
Recently the Mall of Muscat opened in Seeb, and it contains the Oman Aquarium, which is supposedly the largest aquarium in the Middle East.
A few weeks after its opening, M and I decided to go check it out! It’s nice to have something new indoors to do close to Muscat, especially with the heat of the summer months upon us.
So many sharks!
In a nutshell: I’m glad we went, but it’s not worth visiting more than once.
The aquarium does a good job of showing the indigenous fish and creatures that you’ll see in different habitats in Oman. You’ll see a lot of the same animals in the exhibits that you’ll see in the mangrove swamps, reefs, and wadis throughout the country.
Sea life in a traditional Omani village
Getting up close and personal with turtles (in what may have been a Daymaniyat Islands exhibit? I don’t know. There were no signs)
Black-tipped reef sharks and sting rays in another interesting, but un-explained, exhibit
There’s also a neat shallow reef area with sea cucumbers and starfish, were you can put your hands in and touch everything. There was even a hand washing station next to it. It reminded me of that scene from “Finding Dory.” “Hands! Hands!”
The penguin exhibit was also pretty cool, and M was really excited about it. He also loved the few jellyfish exhibits. They even had the same jellyfish we saw in Musandam!
Penguins!
There’s a really cool huge under-the-sea exhibit with lots of fish and sharks, plus a few rays and turtles. There were several different viewpoints into the exhibit, and each offered something different. The huge eagle ray preferred to just relax in the sandy area in one particular spot, and we spent a lot of time standing there watching him relax next to a leopard shark.
A huge eagle ray!
Brought to you by Bank Muscat
Unfortunately a lot of the sea life didn’t look very healthy. Aside from sea anemones, there was no live coral. The eels were lying there on their sides, barely opening their mouths. The yellowbar angelfish were grey rather than blue. There were dead fish lying at the bottom of some of the exhibits.
Healthy, happy yellowbar angelfish the waters of Musandam
This is what eels are supposed to look like
I was looking forward to finally figuring out the names of a lot of the fish and other things we see while snorkeling and diving, but there were hardly any signs or informational panels.
Lastly, the cost. It is expensive. For something that you can easily see in 45 minutes, the price tag is painful. It’s 8.5 OMR ($22) and 6.5 OMR ($17) for children ages 3 and up.
A note on logistics: go early. The aquarium opens at 10 am every day but Friday (I think, I could be wrong) and I’d recommend getting to the mall by 9:45. You’ll have time to get a good parking spot and find the aquarium entrance on the 1st floor.
Unfortunately I just wasn’t impressed by this aquarium. Given that it’s Oman’s first major aquarium, I thought it would rival the Dubai aquarium in the Dubai Mall. It doesn’t. Not by a long shot. Maybe they’re still sorting out the kinks, putting the signs up, and getting everything sorted out. I’ll give the aquarium the benefit of doubt and say that it’ll probably be better in the future. Insha’Allah, as they say!
The tunnel is supposed to resemble a mangrove swamp (I think. Once again, no signs.)
According to Athena 