Sick of the City Life? Experience Farm Life at Baladna Farms in Qatar

For those who don’t like dune-bashing or sand dunning, a visit to Qatar’s Baladna Farms can turn into an experience to be cherished for life. These farms located in the middle of a desert in the town of Al Khor, Doha reflect what it is like to live a traditional life.

Besides having a child play area, the Baladna Farms are having a restaurant and a tea shop where you enjoy few sips of tea while eating delicacies prepared by the locals.

The colourful infrastructure enhancing the ambience of the restaurant is a reflection of Qatar’s tradition. The restaurant serves fresh regional food, including Middle Eastern staples like labneh, hummus, lentil soup, halloumi and kunafah. If you feel like enjoying like a local, you can buy a wide range of canned vegetables, jams, deli-style produce and grains which you can take home to cook your own dishes.

For the vegetarians, flat breads and appetizers serve best. The restaurant often uses the farm’s own products for making the best quality Arabic food. Tiny pots of goodies in the ‘Baladna Trays’ is another great thing to check out. For satisfying the sweet tooth, you can head to a small tea shop at the outpost of Karaki.

From the Visitor’s Center, you can see cows being milked on the large rotating parlour. There is one water treatment plant and six milking rotaries at the farm. If you visit with your kids, you’d be happy to see your little ones sprawling across the playground, which is specially reserved for children between two to eight years. A separate playground for the older children has been filled with complex climbing equipment such as a mini zip line and a towering rope pyramid.

In case your child is not too fond of climbing, you can opt for car racing, pony riding, bicycle or even enjoy a small gold mining experience. With a limited access entrance to the Park, you can have fun in 3 bungee trampolines or spend your time sailing in a small pond with bumper boats.

Inside the Baladna Park, you can feed camels, white ostriches, alpacas, emus, peacocks, rabbits, alpacas, giant tortoises or even peacocks kept in outdoor enclosures. In the Reptile Cove, you can see snakes, iguanas and frogs up and close. If you are planning your visit beforehand, you can check for the special events that are organised at the Baladna Park like the Baladna Cultural Festival held in February, every year.

Over the past few years, Qataris have shown great love for home farming which is considered as a great leisure activity there. To encourage the idea of self-reliance, many entities are organising workshops to train students about the importance of home farming.

If you plan to include Baladna Farms in your future travel lists, you will surely enjoy the authentic experience for a long time in life.