Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre is home to a huge variety of animals, but unfortunately many species are endangered due ti illegal wildlife trade and loss of habitat. Phnom Tamao was established to provide care for sick creatures including Sambor deer, macaques, and tigers. The centre is set in 2,500 hectares of protected forest, and houses over 80 species and 1,200 animals. A visit makes for a fascinating and highly informative day – a must for anyone looking to discover the natural beauty of Cambodia. You’ll also get to watch the elephants taking their daily bath amid plenty of trumpeting and boisterous play. Phnom Tamao is located 40km south of Phnom Penh.
Dara, the world’s only known hairy-nosed otter in captivity, got a new home at Phnom Tamao Rescue Centre. Conservation International explained that hairy-nosed otters were thought to be extinct in the 1990s, and even now researchers believe they only exist in the wild in a few pockets in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Sumatra.
If you didn’t know that Asiatic Black bears are primarily nocturnal, or that the Sun bear’s unusually long tongue comes in handy for slurping up termites, then a trip to the new Bear Discovery Centre might be for you. The recently opened centre was funded in part by the Australian Government and Free the Bears Fund, an Australian NGO working on bear preservation in South East Asia. ‘The hope is to inspire Cambodians to learn more about bears in the wild for future generations’, said Matt Hunt, FTB South East Asia program manager. The centre complements an existing bear sanctuary at Phnom Tamao currently home to 88 bears rescused from the illegal wildlife trade, which is largely driven by overseas bile farms in Vietnam and China.
Tonle Bati is a small lake 35km south of Phnom Penh and popular picnic spot for the locals. Nearby are the Ta Phrom Temple and the Yeah Pean Temple. Both offer some interesting bas-reliefs in reasonably good condition. The laterite temple of Ta Prohm was built by King Jayavarman VII (ruled 1181-1201) during the same period that Bayon and Angkor Thom in Siem Reap were constructed. The main sanctuary consists of five chambers with in each is a lingam. It is thought that via a network of waterways Ta Prohm was an important trading port linking the Angkor temples of Siem Reap in the north to the southern ports in Vietnam. But the enduring image of Ta Phrom has to be the huge, gnarled tree root that has spread its tentacles all around the temple and seems to be plucking it from its ancient moorings.
The Killing Fields: The Cheung Ek genocide museum is located about 15 km from the centre of Phnom Penh. This is the location where the Khmer Rouges took their prisoners for execution. There were killing fields all over the country, but Cheung Ek was believed to be the largest. The prisoners were made to wait here to wait 24 hours before they were killed by a blow to the head after which their throats were slit. Babies were killed by bashing their heads against a tree. There were separate graves for men, for women and for children. Former friends of Pol Pot who were executed here had separate graves too. Visitors can walk along 86 mass graves from which the remainders of 8985 men, women and children were unearthed after the liberation of the Khmer Rouges. Some of those skulls, bones and pieces of clothing are now kept in the nearby massive stupa. Every year on the 20th of May a ceremony is held around the stupa to bring peace to the spirits of the deceased.
At the top of Phnom Chisor sits the well preserved Angkorian era temple ruin, built under King Suryavarman I during a period when Angkorian Empire was powerful and on the rise. This temple is Hindu as most of the temples of this period. One sees carved scenes with the Hindu Gods Braham, Shiva and Vishnu on sandstones lintels and pediments. The quality of the ruins and the splendid view of the countryside is well worth the effort of climbing the 412 steps to reach the top of the hill.
