Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo.

If you have been to Bangkok, Thailand, more than a coupe of days, or maybe down to Pattaya/Jomtien. Then you might have visited this park. Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo is a fairly regular Zoo in Thailand, but not your regular Zoo you might find around the world. Seems like Thailand has specialized herself in regards to Crocodile farms. The farms being a zoo of course.

For visitors who has never seen this kind of Zoo, it is absolutely worth spending a few hours here. The area is quite large, and the selection of various animals is fairly big. Although it is the crocodiles, in all variations and sizes that people will be most excited about.

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Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo is located in the Province Samut Prakan, which is located about 30 Km south of Bangkok. So it is a fairly quick ride with a taxi on the highway, until one of course hits the more residential areas again. And of course, try to avoid the rush hours in the morning and late afternoon. See the map below.

One thing which seems to excite the visitors is of course the fact you can feed the crocodiles, by throwing meat (chicken I think) down to them. You have to buy the food of course.

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You can also feed the elephants, ride the elephants, and watch a show where the elephants do some “moves” which again can be interesting to watch. However many of us have seen this in a sircus somewhere. Still, feeding them is always fun for the kids.

One thing which impressed me was to be so close up to the Hippos (hippopotamus), and also be able to feed them Bananas. They seem to be aware of the fact they will be fed, smart ones as well. Personally I was very surprised that it was such poor safety precautions by the Hippos. But this can have been changed after I was there.

And the highlight of the entire trip is of course the show they do with the crocodiles. Some say the Crocodiles are doped down. I read in an article the crocodiles are recently fed, which makes them tired and drowsy. You can see their reflexes are still working when they shut their mouths. And you can clearly see all the scars on the arms and body which these “show men” have. Which tells us this is not all innocent games with the crocs.

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By the way, there are several souvenir shops as well as restaurants here, as expected. You can not go anywhere in thailand without having some sort of eateries nearby. And of course, part of the menu is……… correct, crocodile meat. I tried it, it was ok, not more than that.

Also, as with most Zoo’s in Asia, you can find Tiger cubs which you can play with and take pictures with. Something I personally find disgusting.

As with most tourist attractions in Thailand, you will soon observe there is a lack of maintenance here. You find this everywhere in Thailand, unless the facilities are very high scale and expensive. Of course, this can have changed recently as it was a few years since I took the attached pictures, which people who know me can see on the final picture, where I am not yet fat.

Regardless, this place is worth spending half a day at.

Have fun.

Have a nice trip.

Rgds, Sailor