The Million Years Stone Park & Pattaya Crocodile Farm

Posted by Party Pete on January 26th, 2009 filed in Entertainment, sightseeing

Founded by businessman and passionate nature lover, Suan Phanomwattanakul, the Million Years Stone Park and Crocodile Farm in Pattaya City is dedicated to preserving Thailand’s stunning natural beauty and its colourful cultural traditions

For more than three decades since his youth, Suan Phanomwattanakul eagerly collected many valuable natural objects that are important due to their oddity or rarity, such as the more than 200 years old Thai-style trained trees dating from the early Rattanakosin era, fossilised trunks of trees that date back to prehistoric times, and extremely colourful stratified rocks.

His collection got bigger and bigger and he hoped that one day the foundation of a tourist attraction that would attract visitors from national as well as international destinations, to observe and admire his fascinating collection of natural wonders. In addition, he wanted people to learn from and study the actual objects instead of reading about them in text books and viewing photographs.

Between 1989 and 1992 Suan fully committed himself to the park’s construction at its actual site within close proximity of Pattaya. The park’s layout was created by him entirely based on his experience and imagination without the assistance of a model. Several buildings were designed by the revered Prof. Dr. Phinyo Suwankhiri, a Thai artist in the Visual Art Division.

The Million Years Stone Park and Crocodile Farm finally opened its doors to the public to tourists on the first of February in 1992. Since that year, continuously things of interest and new decorations have been added to the attraction.

In addition, entertaining and exciting performances regularly took place, such as daily performances of men wrestling bare-handed with adult crocodiles, resulting in the Park becoming one of Thailand’s most popular tourist attractions, throughout the year drawing huge crowds of foreign as well as domestic visitors. Among them are students coming from each corner of the world for geological studies or field trips. Visit the park’s official website for detailed information.