This summer, the entire Crimea is hung with advertisements for the dinosaur exhibition, which was organized near the Red Cave (village of Perevalnoye, Simferopol District) . My three-year-old son was so keenly interested in “real dinosaurs” that we decided to call the organizers and ask for prices. By pure chance, at that very moment, free invitations to the exhibition were played on the radio. We were the first to call, and therefore – the winners, and the happy owners of two tickets to the “World of Dinosaurs”.There’s no way to get away, we put things aside, took our son and went to the Red Caves…Added on August 10. Attention, the dinosaur exhibition is closed today – this is a consequence of ban on visiting the forest. The organizers promise to reopen the exhibition on August 11. To do this, they urgently transfer the exposition from the edge of the forest to a more open space (in the field).I have repeatedly visited this place and knew the road well (the Simferopol-Alushta highway), but even without this I would easily understand where to turn to the Red Caves. In Perevalnoye, at the right intersection (next to the football field and TNK gas station), there was a huge dinosaur. One of the predatory ones – did not really have time to see it because of the heavy traffic on the highway. He only noted that the creature looked quite presentable.Since it was a Sunday, I wasn’t surprised to find the parking lot crowded. It’s good that we left the car earlier, on the paved area 100 meters behind.
At the checkout, which is also a medical center and administration, we exchanged invitations for tickets (paper bracelets on the hand) and also bought a ticket for the child. Although the radio (or whatever it was) claimed that admission was free for children under 4 years old, this information was denied at the box office (they said that it was free only up to 3 years old). A child ticket costs 70 hryvnia, an adult – 100. As far as I understand, various “service packages” are possible (with and without dinosaurs).Having presented tickets-bracelets, we passed through the main gate of the complex. Immediately behind them are a lot of stalls with souvenirs and mineral water-snickers. Didn’t look at prices.
After the bridge, in front of the map of the valley, the road forks: to the left – to the Red Cave and Su-Uchkhan waterfall, to the right – to the dinosaur exhibition. The distance to objects is not less than 500 meters. Every 15 minutes, a carriage (stylized as a train) leaves for them from the fork. Travel is free if you have tickets for one of the facilities of the complex (otherwise -10 UAH).
We went to the dinosaurs on foot. On both sides of the trail there are numerous “glades” – resting places of varying degrees of equipment (tables, benches, sheds, fireplaces, toilets). On the left is a large tent camp (either yogis or qigongists).
Directly at the entrance to the dinosaur exhibit, there is another ticket control. The glade is fenced along the perimeter with a stretched rope, many alternative paths to it (for example, from a waterfall) are littered with branches. I called this place a very arbitrary name for the meadow – just a grassy hillside with separate bushes and trees (we do not take artificial cacti into account). The reddish rocks of the gorge, sheltering a waterfall and caves, rise very close from the forest. On the other side of the broad valley rises Chatyr-Dag. In general, the area is picturesque. However, no one doubted this.
But the dinosaurs… the dinosaurs turned out to be surprisingly good quality. My joy knew no bounds when I saw a huge diplodocus gracefully arching its neck and tail. The poses of most of the giant reptiles in the exhibition are indeed very picturesque and natural. Only the tyrannosaurus upset me with its lack of ferocity (apparently the cinematography taught me to the hypertrophied fierceness of these predators). And the rest of the dinosaurs just ask for a frame – bright colors, skin texture, small plot scenes.
By the way, about photography – pictures embracing monsters are great, but the picture is greatly spoiled by rope barriers around the exhibits. It is not clear why they are needed, if ALL visitors climb over them anyway and come close to the dinosaurs. This is not a museum, but an entertainment complex, why bother building shop windows here?
Mammals from the sculptors turned out not so realistic – all the same, natural fur is very difficult to reproduce. The saber-toothed tiger was too directly associated with a mangy cat, and the mammoth should have been made a little lighter (brown, not black) – so it would look better. Neanderthals, though not woolly, but in my opinion, are also not the most successful.
In general, the exhibits made a positive impression on me. I do not at all share the grief of one of the visitors of the exhibition regarding the fact that the statues do not move (there were sounds – ancient monsters growled and puffed at us from several speakers in the clearing). Better a static figure, but well executed, than a dull doll with crippled movements.
In the course of our journey through the world of dinosaurs, we came across a tour led by a local guide. This service is probably included in the ticket price, but we did not use it – the guide did not say anything that we would not know without him (obvious things, like “this is armor and it is very strong”).
In addition to the dinosaurs themselves, the Red Caves clearing offered a standard set of resort activities – trampoline jumping, crossbow shooting, sloshing around the pool in huge balls and body painting with a zoological bias. There were, however, some animators playing a board game with children.
Most of the attractions had the following rule: if you don’t want to stand in line for half a day, pay with money, not with “pebbles” (trampoline – 20 hryvnia for 3 minutes, or 2 pebbles for 30 seconds ).
It took us only 2 hours to unhurriedly examine and photograph all the inhabitants of the “World of Dinosaurs in the fabulous Kizil-Koba Valley” (the full name of the event), as well as to get acquainted with the attractions (it took more than 3 hours to create this review hours). After that, we headed to the Su-Uchkhan waterfall, to shoot it full-flowing and green at the same time (rainy summer, however).Let’s summarize:
- The dinosaur exhibition is really beautiful and very photogenic.
- The work of attractions and other services around the exhibition could be better
- The price of the ticket is too high, as you have to pay extra for a lot.
P.S. In the middle of this entertainment complex, I stumbled upon a lone stone flower, the same Andan esoteric place of power (see the exhibition map). I remember that about five years ago, there were more of these flowers here, the asphalt to the caves was decorated with soul-saving maxims, and in the evenings on this very clearing, esotericists meditatively looked at the Sun. Well, let’s hope dinosaurs come and go, but power remains.