Fakieh Aquarium – First of its Kind in Saudi Arabia

Fakieh Aquarium – First of its Kind in Saudi Arabia

Most of people consider Saudi Arabia a conservative state with almost negligible opportunities for enjoyment and fun. Yes, it is true to some extent but still this country has a lot to offer. Often extensive effort of web search “things to do in…” or “sight seeing in…” is required to dig out some recreational activity near one’s area as information is not readily available in this country.

It was around end of year 2013 when one of my friends told me about opening of a new aquarium in Jeddah. He had already visited the place and was really admiring it. I immediately decided to visit the aquarium with my family on coming weekend. I was hopeful that kids would enjoy it and yea, I was not wrong.

We reached there on Thursday evening (Friday & Saturday are weekend days in Saudi Arabia). Although the main entrance was same but there were two separate sections, one for dolphin show and other for aquarium tour. Ticket for each section was 50 SAR (13.5 USD) per person. I decided to go for aquarium first.

Aquarium entrance.

Seals pond, outside aquarium building.

Start of aquarium passageways.

Underwater…

The ambiance was really pleasant. 

Is eel really a fish?

Pretty colorful. Isn’t it?

School of fish.

Underwater tunnel.

After passing through various alleys of aquarium, we reached a gift shop area. Oh, finished? I thought. But later I realized that half of aquarium tour was still remaining.

A gift shop, dividing aquarium corridors in two halves.

Start of remaining half of aquarium passageways.

I tried several times but each time, a person would appear before I could click. The below one shows the minimum guest appearance in the pic :).

Amazing. Difficult to spot fish at first glance? It was just because of black color of fish eyes that I realized tank is not empty.

What a star…fish

Fish tanks.

Is it a start fish?

Can’t imagine an aquarium without sharks.

Just wondering, why don’t sharks chase and eat other small fish?

And these were the strangest creature which I saw there. Half buried in sand and half outside. I wrote down its name to read in detail over web but misplaced the paper.

There were some cafe selling coffee & pizzas as well as couple of gift shops at the end.

We, specially our kids, were really amazed. Time well spent.

Location & Coordinates

Coordinates of Fakieh Aquarium : 21.5721355, 39.1093188