A new attraction and the world's largest night safari is to open in Chiang Mai, North Thailand in the month of April 2005, following negotiations between the governments of Thailand and Kenyan and the exchange of Thai elephant mahouts for Kenyan wildlife animals.
The government of Thailand hopes that the Chiang Mai Night Safari attraction will draw many more tourists to Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand. Construction of the Chiang Mai Night Safari is nearly 90% complete and is scheduled to open on April 13, 2005 during the Thai Songkran festival which is the Thai New Year celebration in Thaialnd.
The new Chiang Mai Night Safari has managed to get more than 300 wild animals from Kenya, such as rhinoceroses, lions and African elephants, after Kenyan wildlife officials inspected the Chiang Mai Night Safari site, they said that the animals would have no problem adapting to Thailand. In return, the government of Thailand will be sending Thai mahouts to Kenya to help move wild elephants from urban areas to National wildlife parks.
Other animals that will be on show in the Chiang Mai Night Safari include Australian kangaroos, wallabies and koalas, as well as more than 2,000 ethnic wild animals from the many National parks in Thailand.
The Chiang Mai Night Safari in Thailand will be the largest of its kind in the world and will create more than 300 new local jobs as well as attracting large numbers of tourists to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand.
