The Million Years Stone Park & Pattaya Crocodile Farm

The Million Years Stone Park and Crocodile Farm was founded by Khun Suan Phanomwattanakul, a businessman who love nature and has a life objective to preserve the beautiful nature and fine culture of Thailand. For over 30 years since his youth, Khun Suan had made every effort to collect natural objects that are valuable because of their rarity or oddity, such as Thai-style trained trees that are more than 200 years old from the early Rattanakosin period, fossilized tree trunks that are aged millions of years, and stratified rocks that are so colorful, in the hope that one day he would be able to build a tourist spot for people from far and near and those of future generations, to view and admire together his collection of natural wonders and to study and learn from the actual things instead of text books, pictures and hearsay which would be then only choices if the actual objects should be allowed to disappear. From 1989 – 1992, Khun Suan dedicated himself to the construction of the park at its present site near Pattaya. He created the layout of the park entirely out of his imagination and experience without the help of a model, with the various buildings designed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phinyo Suwankhiri, a National Artist in the Visual Art Division. Finally, on 1 February 1992, the Million Years Stone Park and Crocodile Farm was opened to tourists and the public for the first time. Since then, new decorations and things of interest have been added to the park continuously. Furthermore, amusing and thrilling performances have been held regularly, including daily shows of man fighting with adult crocodiles bare-handed, making the Park a famous tourist destination of Thailand, attracting thousands upon thousands of visitors, both Thais and foreigners, every year. Among them are VIPs and groups of students from all over the world who are on field trips to make animal-life and geological studies. In early 2003, when the World Scout Jamboree was held in the near province of Chon Buri, The Park was one of the host parties who had the pleasure to welcome the scout groups from foreign countries.