WATANI International
7 November 2010
Watani tours Discovery City
The first step into Discovery City—which is located in the major satellite town to the west side of Cairo, 6th October—is capable of sending thrills down spines. Egypt can really be proud to own such a place, and it is a widely held view among visitors that a visit there is worth repeating—and worth encouraging others to visit too.
It was in July 1998 that Mrs Suzanne Mubarak inaugurated the Suzanne Mubarak Science Exploratory Centre (SMSEC), the first scientific interactive centre in Egypt. The centre’s motto is “Please touch the exhibits”, and it is looked on as a place of fun and interest for talented innovators and inventors.
Other centres followed the same path, so that by less than a decade later there were 33. The Ministry of Education is now setting up a series of mega and special scientific centres called ‘scientific discovery cities’ to serve wider geographical regions. Such scientific and technological compounds turn education into a live and exciting experience.
Giant screen
Discovery City, which opened in May 2008, was the first of this later series. Its major drawback is that it does not accept individuals but only groups of not less than 40. Each group is accompanied by a guide.
First on the path of the tour is the education centre, a large, three-dimensional gallery that holds an audience of 270 to view a giant screen displaying scientific, cultural and entertainment films. The gallery, designed according to international standards, is the first of its kind in North Africa.
Visitors then move on to the exploratory garden to see models of animals both extinct and living, in a natural setting, as well as a model of a polar environment. There is also a scientific section with interactive displays on astronomy, geology, aquaculture and wildlife. The Mahka al-Hadarat (Tale of Civilisations) section contains examples of the evolution of Egyptian architecture through the Pharaonic, Byzantine, Coptic and Islamic periods of history.
Almost real
Tour guides guide visitors through the comprehensive and interesting tours of the complex, and urge them to ‘touch and learn’. The astronomy section offers a fascinating presentation of how the continents were formed; what would a person’s weight be on another planet; and how would that visitor look like in an astral suit.
The geology section tells the history of the geological ages, while the aquaculture section opens up serene vistas of wonderful landscapes: waterfalls, coral reefs and all kinds of fish.
In the exploratory garden there are depictions of examples of Egyptian rural life: the bean vendor and his familiar cart and the Nile birds swimming nearby.
Not to be outdone, the history section transports visitors from Edfu Temple in Upper Egypt to the tomb of Tutankhamun, the Sultan Quaitbay Fort in Alexandria, and the Hanging Church in Old Cairo. The designers depicted every minor detail, and this gives the feeling of virtually entering these historic places.
Fittingly, the last stage of the tour focuses on futuristic education, especially concerning technology and production. The Ministry of Education runs courses over the summer months to give students an opportunity to explore for themselves their own skills and thus determine what branch of the sciences they might tend towards.
Out of the way
The executive manager of Discovery City, Maha Abu-Saba says that, so far, most of the visitors are schoolchildren. “It’s still unknown on the local level, and we are also quite far from anywhere,” she remarks.
In general the response to the concept is very positive. General Adel Adly, who is the head of Discovery City, says that the experiment aims to implant exciting education methods for children through turning the curricula into a hands-on experience with displays they could both see and touch. “We need to familiarise people with the city’s services, and arrange for transportation so that making use of the city will not be restricted to car owners,” General Adly says.
Discovery City is open daily from 9am to 3pm. The ticket price is EGP5 per person for students and EGP10 for other groups.