2008-10-19 - Phnom Tamao Zoo

Major tourist activity for the day was to go to the Phnom (hill / mountain) Tamao Zoological Gardens and Wildlife Rescue Centre, aka the Zoo. Original plan was to get a TukTuk, but after inviting Socheat (CARE IT officer) to come along, he offered to take his moto, so we went on that. First stop was an old temple on the way that Socheat knew, which was small but still impressive.

After that it was off to the zoo – some little kids stopped us on the way to tell us the road we were on no longer went there, and just as they were paid for their advice, someone else riding passed called out that it still did. A bit of exploring and turning back later we wound up on the main road to the zoo, after riding through someone’s paddock.

The zoo charges $5 per barang (foreigner) to get in, or free for locals on motos or 50c for locals in cars. The first stop was an enclosure that you walk around in, containing storks, sambal deer and lots of monkeys; as well as a few smaller enclosures with other critters.

After that, you jump on your moto and drive on to the other enclosures – these ranged from 4 x 4 x 4m cages to large fenced areas, and contained birds (including a fair few eagles and owls), various sorts of monkeys, crocs, possum-sized animals and there were even elephants playing soccer, leopards and tigers.