A taste of Asia and Australia will be brought to North Carolina, US, over the next five years, through a multi-million dollar project to build new areas inspired by these regions at North Carolina Zoo.

According to local media, the zoo’s Gerry Parker, director of planning and construction, said the goal was to make the zoo a multi-day destination for guests.

The Asia expansion will be built first and cost US$46m (€40.68m, £35.57m), the reports continue, with construction starting early in 2020. When completed, there will be tigers, red pandas, Komodo dragons and a new café that can seat up to 300 people here.

The Australia zone will follow, but at this stage, the zoo still needs to raise another US$20m (€17.69m, £15.46m) to help complete this part of the plan. It's hoped, however, to include an aviary featuring Australian bird species, and an exhibit dedicated to kangaroos.

With 500 developed acres, North Carolina Zoo is the world's largest natural habitat zoo, and sits in an area of 2,600 wooded acres at Asheboro, in the heart of North Carolina. An agency of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the zoo has been involved with the conservation of animals in the wild, from vultures and gorillas in Africa to endangered plants and amphibians in its own state, for over two decades.