Korat Zoo (Nakthom Ratchashima, Thailand)

I had the opportunity to visit Korat Zoo last year while traveling through Thailand with a group of students. The zoo was located some distance outside of Korat City in an area surrounded by forests and farmlands.  The grounds of this zoo were so large and spread out that we rented golf carts to drive ourselves around the park.

The golf carts were available for 300 bahts per hour, and visitors were expected to possess a driver’s license. (Although I wasn’t asked to show it.) Bicycles were also available at 20 bahts per hour, and tickets for the tram that circled the zoo cost 20 bahts for adults and 10 bahts for children. We had scheduled only a couple of hours in this park, and as a result we ended up racing from exhibit to exhibit. 

One very interesting aspect of this zoo was that it had various types of deer that were allowed to freely roam around the grounds.  On one occasion, we even had one suddenly dash across the path of our golf cart.

The Tiger Enclosure

Although we zipped around most of this zoo, I insisted on stopping at the tiger enclosure to get a few stills and some video.  Although the tiger wasn’t walking around, at least he was awake.  The enclosure was quite large with a decent size pool of water and a few stands of bamboo trees. The tiger was resting in the back of the exhibit, about 50 meters away from the front fence. The photos below were the best I could accomplish in the 20 minutes I had available.

Tiger video below:

Other Animals

African elephant exhibit

Kangaroo exhibit

Gibbons

The large structure below was in the center of a complex of cages housing various hornbills and other birds. There were no animals in this particular structure and, except for large artwork depicting tropical birds and a couple of signs, there were no exhibits or displays. Perhaps the large, leafless tree in the center was supposed to serve as a perch for some type of bird.

There were new enclosures still under construction.  I was told that they would be the new home for the tigers and other large carnivores. 

Opportunities for Animal Encounters

At the giraffe enclosure, visitors could buy bananas to feed to the giraffes.  The giraffes appeared to be quite accustomed to this routine, quickly approaching the boundary of the enclosure once they saw visitors holding bananas.  There may have been other similar activities, but on our quick run through this zoo, I was unable to see any.

Giraffe video below:

Food and Souvenirs

Throughout the zoo, there were small food stands that sold drinks and snacks. There was also a small gift shop near the zoo entrance/exit, but unfortunately, at the time we went to take a look on our way out, it was closed and no staff was in sight. One surprise was that there was an automatic teller machine in the zoo near the small gift shop.  If they were going to go through that much trouble to provide visitor access to money, you would think that they would also make sure that the gift shop was always opened so that visitors would have somewhere to spend it.

Getting There

Considering the location of this zoo and its distance from Korat City, the best way to get there is by taxi or rental car.  Admission for adult foreigners was 100 bahts, for foreigner children 50 bahts.  The admission for Thai adults was 70 bahts, and Thai children got in for 15 bahts.  There was also a special price of 30 bahts for Thai high vocational and university students, teachers, soldiers, and police.

(Note: All photos taken in this post were taken during a visit on September 4, 2013.  The comments in this post are based on observations made on that day.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)