Omaha, Neb. ? A dry, hot desert may not sound like an attractive destination, but the world’s largest indoor replica of one has become a hit with visitors to Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo.

The exhibit is housed under what is advertised as the world’s largest geodesic dome. More than 1,700 glazed panels make up the dome’s 13-story cover.

Children play in a sand dune at the Desert Dome at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb. The world's largest indoor replica of a desert was an instant hit, with more than 73,000 visitors during its opening week in late March.

More than 73,000 people from 11 states walked the Desert Dome’s sandy paths during its opening week in late March.

“That puts us on the map,” says Dr. Lee Simmons, zoo director. “We’re a long way from a tourist destination, so we have to pedal harder.”

The exhibit features a cactus forest, an oasis, a hummingbird aviary, a 30-foot sand dune, a 55-foot mountain and a sandfall like a waterfall but with flowing sand.

“The desert environment was the next really unique type of environment that the majority of the people will never get to,” Simmons says. “I think we managed to exceed everybody’s expectations.”

Omaha’s zoo has been Nebraska’s most-visited tourist attraction for years. It features an indoor rain forest that spans 1.5 acres where visitors mingle with jungle animals, hide in caves and hike behind a waterfall. The zoo’s aquarium has an underwater tunnel where visitors walk with sharks and stingrays swimming overhead.

“This is a deliberate decision to only do cutting-edge, world-class programs,” Simmons says.

The $31.5 million, shining Desert Dome dominates the horizon next to Interstate 80 along the banks of the Missouri River.

Simmons says that it could attract an additional 250,000 to 300,000 visitors to the zoo each year. The zoo is already among the top 20 in the United States in attendance with nearly 1.2 million visitors last year.

Zoogoers would have to travel to the Indianapolis Zoo or North Carolina Zoological Park to see a similar desert exhibit, but on much smaller scales, says Jane Ballentine with the American Zoo and Aquarium Assn.

Omaha’s Desert Dome is creating a buzz among the nation’s zoo fans and industry officials, Ballentine says.

“This is a fairly small community and people are interested in the zoo’s scope and size,” she says. “It’s big, it’s gorgeous and very innovative.”

The Desert Dome, which took three years to build, is filled with plants and animals from the Namibia Desert of southern Africa, the Red Center of Australia and the Sonoran Desert of the southwest United States and northwest Mexico.

Featured animals include venomous snakes such as the Taipan the world’s second deadliest snake roadrunners, bobcats, a puma and meerkats, which are a type of mongoose from Africa.

Temperatures in the dome shouldn’t keep visitors away the air is regulated at a comfortable 72 to 75 degrees.

A nocturnal animal exhibit will open beneath the dome in 2003. The Kingdoms of the Night will include a swamp with a floating walkway, a stalactite cave and aquariums.