Phnom Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary

When most people think of wildlife sanctuaries they tend to think of large pieces of open land where the animals roam freely. Unfortunately, this isn’t quite the case in the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary as most of the animals are kept in large cages, making the place look and feel rather more like a big zoo.

However, all the animals in the sanctuary have been confiscated from traffickers or saved from the traps of poachers. Phnom Tamao provides a rare opportunity to see a number of Cambodia’s animals in close up and donate to a cause that is helping to preserve the country’s wildlife, aided by international wildlife NGOs.
Visitors to the sanctuary are given a number of different ways to interact with the animals, one of the most popular being the ‘bear keeper for the day’, which offers visitors the chance to feed and wash the young Malaysian sun bears that live there.

The sanctuary offers visitors the chance to watch their favourite animals taking part in unusual activities. Stop to watch the elephants painting pictures or perhaps playing football and admire the colourful plumage of some of Cambodia’s rare birds. There are a large number of beautiful tigers living in the sanctuary as well as crocodiles, macaques and deer.

Although many of the animals were close to death when they were rescued, they now seem to be thriving under the supervision of the sanctuary workers and Phnom Tamao is constantly developing so that it shouldn’t be long before the animals are allowed run free.

The Phnom Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary is located 40 kilometres outside Phnom Penh, making it possible to visit on a day trip. Simply take a tuk-tuk from anywhere in the city. The journey will take about half an hour and is quite pretty. If you don’t fancy walking around in the heat, you can get the tuk-tuk to drive around the sanctuary, stopping to allow you to explore each area.