A Visit to the Night Safari
There is a bit of controversy around the Night Safari in Chiang Mai. Seems the government purloined national park land to build it on. This, and that there has yet to be published an environmental impact assessment has meant that the project is not well supported in Chiang Mai.
So I decided yesterday to go visit and see for myself what the Chiang Mai Night Safari is all about.
The Chiang Mai Night Safari was built by the government to promote tourism to Chiang Mai. It is modeled after the famous Night Safari in Singapore, except it is twice as large. The theme park, as they like to call it, is separated into three main parts.
The Savanna Safari Zone is open in the evenings, and visitors travel through the area on a tram. The second area, also accessed by tram in the evenings, is the Predator Prowl Zone.
The third area is the Jaguar Trail Zone, and this one opens at 1:00 in the afternoon, and is traveled by foot. The trail is a little less than one mile in length, and loops around Swan Lake. This is the area I visited.
The architecture, fountains, sculptures, landscaping, and buildings are fantastic to start off with. They did a very nice job building this theme park.
The best part is the animals. They appear to be very well taken care of, and their enclosures are very natural and well tended to. For the most part, the animals are visible directly, or through a glass window, which is always great for viewing and taking photos.
The grounds alone are breathtaking. The first exhibit I came to was a cluster of little islands where the gibbons live.
So much nicer than being stuck in a cage, if you have to spend your life at a zoo!
Along the path you are likely to run into Peacocks strolling the grounds.
One of the pride and joys of the Night Safari is their White Tigers. Their two tigers were magnificent.
They have a few other big cats, a jaguar, leopard, and other smaller cats.
And then the usual animals you would expect to see at a zoo. A trio of otters…
A few wallabys…
Pygmy hippopotamus…
And a collection of various foxes…
The path leads through a free flight aviary, which was quite amusing to watch the birds chasing each other around. I have added several bird photos to my bird gallery, figured it was time to update that gallery, but here a couple of the beautiful birds that live in the aviary.
And then there were a couple of bird displays outside the aviary.
On the lake there were many fowl, including this beautiful black swan
And of course, flamingos!
But I must say, my favorite of all was the squirrel monkeys, I had so much fun watching them!
I would have to say that this one was my favorite shot of the day
Very sad to say, I pretty much had the zoo to myself all day. I saw two other groups, three adults with one small child, and another couple with a little girl. I left before the Night Safari tram rides began, so I do not know it there were more people attending in the evening. Chiang Mai needs to wake up and appreciate this beautiful and well kept animal park. I would feel so bad for the animals if the park had to close due to political animosity.
I am looking forward to going back in the evening some time soon, and experiencing the Night Safari. From what I read it sounds very exciting!
I will be visiting the daytime Jaguar Trail Zone often. The cost to get in? 100 baht, or roughly 3 dollars. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon leisurely strolling through such a beautiful park, and seeing so many animals (there were quite a few more than I have photos of, over 50 species!).
I would encourage every visitor, and local resident, to check out this incredible goldmine.
So I decided yesterday to go visit and see for myself what the Chiang Mai Night Safari is all about.
The Chiang Mai Night Safari was built by the government to promote tourism to Chiang Mai. It is modeled after the famous Night Safari in Singapore, except it is twice as large. The theme park, as they like to call it, is separated into three main parts.
The Savanna Safari Zone is open in the evenings, and visitors travel through the area on a tram. The second area, also accessed by tram in the evenings, is the Predator Prowl Zone.
The third area is the Jaguar Trail Zone, and this one opens at 1:00 in the afternoon, and is traveled by foot. The trail is a little less than one mile in length, and loops around Swan Lake. This is the area I visited.
The architecture, fountains, sculptures, landscaping, and buildings are fantastic to start off with. They did a very nice job building this theme park.
The best part is the animals. They appear to be very well taken care of, and their enclosures are very natural and well tended to. For the most part, the animals are visible directly, or through a glass window, which is always great for viewing and taking photos.
The grounds alone are breathtaking. The first exhibit I came to was a cluster of little islands where the gibbons live.
So much nicer than being stuck in a cage, if you have to spend your life at a zoo!
Along the path you are likely to run into Peacocks strolling the grounds.
One of the pride and joys of the Night Safari is their White Tigers. Their two tigers were magnificent.
They have a few other big cats, a jaguar, leopard, and other smaller cats.
And then the usual animals you would expect to see at a zoo. A trio of otters…
A few wallabys…
Pygmy hippopotamus…
And a collection of various foxes…
The path leads through a free flight aviary, which was quite amusing to watch the birds chasing each other around. I have added several bird photos to my bird gallery, figured it was time to update that gallery, but here a couple of the beautiful birds that live in the aviary.
And then there were a couple of bird displays outside the aviary.
On the lake there were many fowl, including this beautiful black swan
And of course, flamingos!
But I must say, my favorite of all was the squirrel monkeys, I had so much fun watching them!
I would have to say that this one was my favorite shot of the day
Very sad to say, I pretty much had the zoo to myself all day. I saw two other groups, three adults with one small child, and another couple with a little girl. I left before the Night Safari tram rides began, so I do not know it there were more people attending in the evening. Chiang Mai needs to wake up and appreciate this beautiful and well kept animal park. I would feel so bad for the animals if the park had to close due to political animosity.
I am looking forward to going back in the evening some time soon, and experiencing the Night Safari. From what I read it sounds very exciting!
I will be visiting the daytime Jaguar Trail Zone often. The cost to get in? 100 baht, or roughly 3 dollars. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon leisurely strolling through such a beautiful park, and seeing so many animals (there were quite a few more than I have photos of, over 50 species!).
I would encourage every visitor, and local resident, to check out this incredible goldmine.