Durban - Don’t know your Triceratops from your Allosaurus, your Styracosaurus from your Diplodocus?
Then a good place to head for a different family treat this holiday season is the dinosaur exhibition in the Sunzone tent at Durban’s Suncoast Casino.
The display, which opened last week and is booked in until January 10, features 25 moving and roaring animatronic recreations of creatures that roamed the Earth millions of years ago – and makes for interesting viewing.
Having first been seen at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront from last December to February this year, DinosAlive, as it is billed, went on to visit the Tshwane Events Centre in Pretoria from April to May, then moved to the Bloemfontein Showgrounds in June and July.
Featuring lifelike dinosaurs, each with varying moving body parts, and displayed in cordoned-off areas cleverly dressed and atmospherically lit to resemble their natural habitats, the exhibition certainly enthralled and entertained two six-year-olds and an 11-year-old who attended with me.
Their first jaw-dropping moment, accompanied by mock screams, came on viewing the towering Brachiosuarus, a creature which was first discovered in 1903 from fossils found in America’s Grand Canyon.
A huge herbivore measuring up to 26m, Brachiosaurus was part of the Sauropod family and lived during the Jurassic period.
The exhibition, complete with assorted sound effects and with information plaques displayed for each dinosaur, also features the more obscure Spinosaurus and Ankylosaurus.
The big show-stopper, and the best on show, is kept for last – the carnivorous, big-jawed Tyrannosaurs rex (T-rex), a snarling, true predatory king that measured up to 12.3m.
A cultural phenomenon whose name translates into “tyrant lizard” , T-rex lived throughout western North America.
At DinosAlive, he roars and lowers his large jaw towards you as you leave the exhibition space for an area selling dinosaur souvenirs and refreshments.
Also on offer in this area are face painting (R20), free PlayStation games involving dinosaurs, a free jumping castle, and a large sandpit allowing children to dig for wooden fossil replicas.
Also here are two very large “dinosaur eggs” in which children can pose for photos, as well as three tame dinosaur rides where smaller children can saddle up for fun. Rides on the two smaller dinosaurs cost R5 each and the ride on the larger creature costs R10.
Also in this area is a cinema space offering a 20-minute film about dinosaurs and fossils.
The exhibition, which has many fossils on display and also provides video booth stops for further information, opens at 9am and closes at 7pm every day of the week, except Christmas Day. Last entries are at 5pm every day.
Tickets cost R120 for adults, R85 for children and R350 for a family package (two adults and two children). Children under the age of 2 get in free. Booking is at the venue or via WebTickets.
The Mercury