TBK Travels- Dubai Miracle Garden ( (In Arabic: حديقة الزهور بدبي)

Dubai Miracle Garden(in Arabic: حديقة الزهور بدبي) 2022- Picture by Jeboy

Back in 2019 my friend Jim McDermott and his wife Pat were staying in Dubai and when they returned I asked them if there were any places they suggested visiting when I was next in Dubai. They suggested I visit Dubai Miracle Gardens and it has been a firm favourite of mine since.

For those not familiar with the Dubai Miracle Gardens their website explains:

"Each season, as the weather begins to cool at the onset of winter, the gates reopen at Dubai Miracle Garden. With more than 150 million flowers in full bloom, this 72,000-sq-m paradise has flowered into one of the region’s most picturesque, sweet-scented destinations since it first opened nearly nine years ago – fittingly, on Valentine’s Day."

Source: https://www.dubaimiraclegarden.com/ ( accessed 1.2.22)

The gardens are a blaze of yellow this year

"The Dubai Miracle Garden is a flower garden located in the district of Dubailand, Dubai, United Arab Emirates."

Source : https://www.bing.com/search? q=DUBAI+miracle+gardens&form=ANNTH1&refig=aae4c32434104aefb216cbd7fefb9d44&ntref=1 ( accessed 1.2.22)

It's about 8 km from where I was staying at Adagio in Al Bashra but is not on a bus route or metro line so we had a taxi there which cost us 36 AED ( 4 bd or 8 GBP) . The entrance this year is 55 AED each ( 5.5 Bd or 11 GBP) . We arrived at around 2 pm and left about 5 pm as this was our second visit and we had already eaten before we got there. There are lots of restaurantsz ( Pizza Hutt, Hardees, Shawarmas, Juices etc. ) and a Starbucks which sells ice cream!

They have a Hardees and a Krispy Kreme too

Every summer, when they are closed, due to the heat in Dubai, they update the gardens with new features. In the summer of 2021 they added more shaded seating areas which were very welcome. When we went in 2019 Jeboy and I got very hot and sunburnt walking around the gardens. This year we took several breaks for fruit juice and strawberries, ice cream and just to sit and talk in the shade.

Jeboy's selfie ( one of four) of his Tira Misu ( Pick me up) ice cream!

Their website states that:

"A recurring theme at Dubai Miracle Garden is reinvention and renewal, which keeps tourists and UAE residents alike coming back for more – over 1.5 million visit every year"

Source: https://www.dubaimiraclegarden.com/tour/general-admission/ ( accessed 1.2.22)

However those numbers are low compared to the hottest new attraction in Dubai this year ( Expo 2020) which had 10 million visitors in its first 3 months of operation. The place was quite quiet when Jeboy and I visited ( 31.1.22) which meant we could walk around at a leisurely pace, go where we wanted and find plenty of places to sit and rest ( yes at 61 years old and following my hip replacement in 2020 I am finally slowing down) . The fact that while EXPO 2020 is free for pre booked Seniors at certain times ( Mid week mornings) Dubai Miracle Gardens charges them full price ( Adult/Seniors : AED 55 (Age 12 years and above) is an indication of their target market! However there were also lots of kids there ! ( Child : AED 40 (Age 3 to 12 years) – *ID is Required

Child Below 3 is Free – *ID is Required)

There is plenty for the kids to see- they can buy balloons, bubble makers, have their photos with Falcons ( for a small extra fee , of course) , ride on a Golf cart and see the SMURFS! When I first went Dubai Miracle Gardens had a license with the Walt Disney organisation and the gardens were full of Disney characters ...as explained on Wikipedia:

"As part of a licensing deal between the Dubai Miracle Garden and The Walt Disney Company, a topiary of Mickey Mouse was unveiled in February 2018. Flower structures of Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie were installed later that year."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Miracle_Garden ( accessed 1.2.22)

Going up to Heaven, good leg first, and admiring the micro irrigation system

There are lots of buildings in the centre of the gardens and a viewpoint which we climbed up to ( with the ice cream at the top!) . There is also an Emirates A380 Airbus which has won Dubai Miracle Gardens one of three Guinness world records:

" In 2013, it was declared as the world's largest vertical garden. Currently an Airbus A380 flower structure in the garden is listed by Guinness World Records as the biggest flower structure in the world. The 18 metres (59 ft) topiary of Mickey Mouse, which weighs almost 35 tonnes, is the tallest topiary supported sculpture in the world."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Miracle_Garden ( accessed 1.2.22)

An example of a micro irrigation system

As we climbed slowly up the steps to the ice cream I showed Jeboy the Micro- irrigation system which waters all the plants in the garden each night ( a much larger version of the one I had in my old house in the UK) . There is a series of black pipes, mostly hidden from view, which traverse the whole garden and drip recycled water into all the plants each night. I was curious as to wear the water comes from ( most of the GCC has restrictions on the use of sweet ( drinkable) water for irrigation as its in short supply due to the heat and the shortage of natural water in the aquifers below ground which have either been polluted or used up . The GCC uses more water per head than any other country in the world. Bahrain and Kuwait now lead the way in the production of desalinated water but still more needs to be done.

Table 1: Desalination Water Supply Share in 1990 and 2005

Country	1990			2005
Country	Desalination Production (mcm)	Domestic Demand (mcm)	Desalination to Demand ratio (%)	Desalination Production (mcm)	Domestic Demand (mcm)	Desalination to Demand ratio (%)
Bahrain	56	103	54	122.7	133	92
Kuwait	240	303	80	589.1	610	96.5
Oman	32	86	37	67.932	170	40
Qatar	83	85	98	250.13	252	99
Saudi Arabia	795	1,700	47	1,063.28	2,458	43
UAE	342	540	63	812.61	951	85
Total	1,548	2,817	55	2,905.75	4,574	63.5

Source: Mohamed A. Dawoud, “Water Scarcity in GCC Countries: Challenges and opportunities,” Gulf Research Center, Dubai, 2007.

As an ardent Environmentalist I was pleased to read in my research that:

"The flowers are maintained by re-use of treated wastewater through a drip irrigation method with an average amount of 757,082 litres (166,535 imperial gallons; 200,000 US gallons) of water per day. According to the officials of Dubai Miracle Garden, the Dubai municipality retreats the grey water of the city and sends it directly to the garden. The garden again re-filters the water and converts it to high-quality water for its usage in the garden. The garden is only watered after it closes at night."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_Miracle_Garden ( accessed 1.2.22)

There are also some interesting pictures of the gardens when they first opened in 2013 here:

https://gulfnews.com/general/the-worlds-most-beautiful-garden--in-dubai-1.1148995

The Emirates A380 Airbus at the centre of the Dubai Miracle Garden display

As usual my thanks to Jeboy for taking all the photos and videos and to Chester for editing the video footage into a blog which can be seen by clicking the link below: