The main place we’ve ever known to get up close with animals here in Kuwait used to be Kuwait Zoo. Since the zoo has been closed for years for unknown reasons other than renovations, I have noticed numerous places popping up featuring opportunities to see animals, especially ones that we can pet and approach.

I have made a list of the places we have taken our daughter to so far. The spots include indoor and outdoor ones.

Scientific Centre- Indoors

To those who are new to Kuwait, Scientific Centre is an educational facility housing an aquarium, wildlife and ecosystems, an IMAX movie theatre as well as Discovery Place for Kids. The centre is situated by the Gulf seaside and there’s a beautiful walkway leading up to it that people enjoy trekking through.

We love frequenting the place and it has always been one of our favourite spots to go to for a relaxing time. It’s just all in all a very atmospheric venue.

Recently, the Scientific Centre added an animal petting corner inside the aquarium zone.

Depending on the time, one of the staff members appear to educate and show children a variety of animals. Every 15-20 minutes or so, a new animal is brought out and showcased.

That day we petted a garden snail and I only then did I discover that snails are actually hermaphrodites (they possess both male and female sex organs) and produce their own shells from the calcium released through their skin . For some reason after our encounter with one, I realised that they’re pretty cute!

Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Center (ASCC) – Indoors

This is another great museum that covers ecosystems, space exploration, Earth, and the human body. The complex doesn’t feature as many live animals as the scientific Center, but does have a large aquarium and mostly exhibits marine animals.

Aquamarine Exotic (Indoors)

This is another interesting venue. Aquamarine Exotic initially opened as an aquarium supplies store but then expanded to house animals.

I had shared a detailed blog post about our visit to Aquamarine Exotic here.

The store initially introduced Koi fish feeding and after that opened a new premises nearby with a variety of exotic animals.

Some of the animals there are baby barn owls, a crow, hedgehogs, chameleons, a range of birds and even white racoon dogs to name a few.

Little Jungle (winter season – outdoors)

Little Jungle resembles a zoo and is quite close to a replacement for Kuwait Zoo at the time being. It’s a vast, open space to walk around and look at animals, ones that you would normally find in a zoo like giraffes, ostriches, and zebras. Some up close animal encounters include holding turtles, petting parrots, and even cuddling with Pomeranians.

Al Bohayra Farm (winter season – outdoors)

Al Bohayra Farm gets busy during the peak winter season, but it’s an expansive farm with numerous activities to do such as exploring the land and crops, shopping at the farmer’s market, looking at farm animals, riding ponies and horses, and there’s even a mini zoo for petting animals.

Once you enter, you are greeted by camels, goats, sheep, horses and donkeys. You are given some greens (for a fee) to feed the animals as you walk further into the farm.

Al Murooj Farm (outdoors)

This is probably the latest addition to animal encounters. Murooj is actually a restaurant complex located next to an Equestrian Club in Sabah Al Salem. They also have a great outdoor playground for kids and recently added a nice little farm experience. There is a fenced off area at the center with animals roaming around and they’re accessible for the public to interact with. Some animals include bunnies, an iguana, ostrich, and baby goats to name a couple. What set this experience apart is how we weren’t enclosed from the animals, but could approach them and pet them safely as they wandered freely.

Mega Pet Zones in Al Rai near Avenues Mall

The Megastore by Pet zone is a giant one. The first floor is divided into feeds for all kinds of animals imaginable (even primates), while the other section is devoted to all things cats and dogs, including a grooming center/pet salon.

The first section is also the one that has a couple of live animals to see, some of which are racoons, owls, toucans, small turtles, a large selection of fish, and I was even surprised to see a squirrel. They were fun for my daughter to look a, but at the same time it felt strange seeing these large animals caged especially since most of them weren’t for sale but just there for spectacle.

The second floor is another level that hosts birthday parties for kids.

And that sums up all the places to see animals in Kuwait!