Acrobatic dolphins set to make a splash in the city
KARACHI: The upcoming dolphin show project, apart from other things, will provide a lively and educative entertainment to the citizens of Karachi, especially the children, and will also dispel many...
August 13, 2012
It will also assure the Pakistanis and the world that Karachi has a very wholesome and people-oriented side to it to it and all is not just crime and insecurity.
This was stated by Sheikh Afzal, provincial minister for environment, while speaking as chief guest at the commencement of work on the dolpin project at the Maritime Museum of Pakistan, PNS Karsaz.
The provincial department of environment, he said, would lend all possible support and cooperation to the project.
He talked about the affinity dolphins had with humans and pointed out that there were around 1,000 blind dolphins in the Indus in the vicinity of Guddu barrage within an area of around 108 miles.
The Director-General, Karachi Maritime Museum, Commodore Muhammad Aslam, said that the fact that the Pakistan Navy’s maritime Museum had been chosen as the site for such an auspicious project was a source of real pride for the Pakistan Navy.
He congratulated Mustafa Kamal of Talent Brokers International, the force behind the project.
Replying, Mustafa Kamal thanked the Pakistan Navy and Commodore Mehboob Elahi Malik for their hearty cooperation in the project.
Elaborating on certain features of the project, he said that it was the first-ever dolphin show not only in Pakistan but the whole Saarc region. The show ill start on October 1, 2012, and continue up until November 30. Depending on the response, it could be extended by another two months, he said. The show, he said, would move to Lahore in February 2013.
He said that there would be free shows for special children and inmates of orphanages.
Earlier, the media folk were conducted to the construction site where a pool for the dolphins, 15 feet deep, 100 feet long, and 50 feet wide was being constructed. It will house two Sea Lions and four dolphins. The arena around the pool will have a seating capacity of 4,000. The dolphins are being sent for from Russia and the trainers will be Russians too.
The programme is being managed with the cooperation of the Russia-based Dolphin International. Entry fee for children has been fixed at Rs250 while for adults, it will be Rs450. Each show ill be of a duration of 60 minutes.
During the Iftar-Dinner, there was a power point presentation of dolphins performing tricks and acrobatics.
Mustafa Kamal was reticent when asked about the estimated cost of the project, for, as he put it, “obvious reasons”.
