Dinosaur village at Muscat Festival offers a blend of education and entertainment

Muscat: Those looking for a blend of education and entertainment can now have a unique experience at a dinosaur village in Amerat Park as an ‘Edutainment’ event is being held for the first time there as part of the Muscat Festival.
At ‘Edutainment,’ models of 15 different species of dinosaurs are on display, said Christom Thomas, managing director of the Oman-based Al Ghazel Int’l company, the organiser of the village.
Speaking to the Times of Oman, Thomas said a decision was made to showcase dinosaur models in Amerat Park after the dinosaur village in Naseem Park received ‘fantastic’ feedback from visitors last year.
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According to him, new dinosaur models manufactured in China have been brought to Amerat Park while an animal park featuring various animals’ models was set up in Naseem Park this year.
The dinosaur village in Amerat Park has been labelled ‘the first and the biggest dinosaur village in the Middle East,’ where visitors have a chance to see dinosaurs in various shapes and sizes, walking dinosaur models, replicas of dinosaur eggs and dinosaur fossils as well as many other things.
Children can also take a dinosaur ride inside the village, said Thomas. He believes that the village offers a great experience for visitors, especially children, as they can better understand what they studied at school and read about in books.
Children have seen dinosaurs featured in Hollywood movies, mostly through special effects, but the models displayed here are animatronic and equipped with censors, Thomas explained.
So if a person is within a 5-10 metre radius of the model, it will start moving its different parts such as head and tail, making various sounds, blinking its eyes or doing other actions, he added.
Thomas noted that in order to reinforce the educational aspect of the experience, a board is displayed alongside each dinosaur or animal in both Amerat and Naseem parks, and displays information about that particular animal.
It is both fun and an educational experience for visitors, he said.