phnom tamao wildlife rescue center

Thank you for reviewing your visit of Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre (PTWRC). We are sorry to hear that your visit underwhelming, largely due to the lack of signage and maps which we at Wildlife Alliance are currently collaborating with the Cambodian government to develop and place around PTWRC. It seems you missed out on the elephants, tigers, leopards, gibbons, otters and some Cambodian style restaurants. Signage and visitor aesthetics have previously taken a backseat to the rescue, feeding, veterinary care and rehabilitation and release of wildlife using our limited funding between the government’s meager budget, grant applications and individual donors. Yet now with the help of our new “behind the scenes” interactive tour at PTWRC (which include air conditioned transport from Phnom Penh), in which we guide guests into private areas of the Centre to meet our animals, we have raised additional funds toward signage, maps and an Elephant Conservation Centre to improve the experience for both Cambodian and foreign tourists. PTWRC doesn't have all the frills of zoos in developed countries, as it is first and foremost a rescue centre which simply doubles as a zoo. All the animals have been rescued from the illegal wildlife trade in Cambodia and without a home at PTWRC, they would likely be dead. On a fraction of the budget of zoos, we care for over 1200 animals, many of them endangered, including tigers, leopards, elephants, gibbons, pangolins, binturongs and birds of prey. We hope you can visit again and join our behind the scenes interactive tour to learn more about the work we are doing in Cambodia and enjoy unique experiences not available to the general public, such as feeding Lucky the elephant, learning about our humane positive rewards based training which allows us to care for an elephant with a prosthesis and feeling like a jungle gym as rescued macaques jump on you during feeding time. More information about our work and the tours is available on the Wildlife Alliance website under Phnom Tamao Tours.

很多年前,当我第一次来柬埔寨时,我曾来过这个地方,让我记忆最恨可的地方就是那条肮脏的路,一些乞讨者和动物生存的恶劣条件。我在7年后又一次来到了这个地方,但是这里却有了更多的乞讨者,道路还是那么肮脏,动物生存的条件也丝毫没有得到改善。我很喜欢鳄鱼池里的鳄鱼,我觉得鳄鱼也很可爱啊。如果你带着孩子过来玩儿一天的话,也许是个不错的选择,吃顿野餐什么的,但是如果你自己来,并且期待看到像圣安东尼奥马刺或是底特律公园那样的公园的话,你会很失望的。他们需要一个像史蒂夫那样的主持人。其实他们还是做了很多改进的,尤其是在你可以在那儿看到亚洲黑熊,真是太酷了。还有蜿蜒爬行的蛇,大多数动物都是被放在笼子里隔开的。好了,如果你喜欢的动物园的话,就快去看看吧,但别认为这是一个终极体验。那些乞丐让这次旅程变得可怕。动物园管理者应该把他们赶走...影响动物园的整个环境。

大多部分的动物看似被照料的很好,它是相当分散的--我去过两次,在那里呆了不少时间但是还是不认为我看过所有的展示。

这个动物园距离金边30公里。自从我二十年前第一次来这里,这里并没有什么变化。2号公路上的长泥土路沿边有40个很穷 村民在乞讨。他们看起来很痛苦。一开始对这家动物园的印象也很糟糕。入口处乱糟糟的,没有什么指示标。你会对往哪走感到迷茫。有一些小店卖帽子,一群孩子拿着棒棒糖和煮熟的土豆卖给游客喂动物。很难知道哪里是圈地,动物养在哪里。我们在第一个地方转了转,看见了一些很大的长满杂草的池塘,有几只鹿、一两只丹顶鹤和鹳,笼子里有一只鳄鱼和几只乌龟。没有信息。然后我们回到车上驾车去了另外几个地方,有鹿、长臂猿、野猪和麻雀。稍微远一点的地方还有熊、蟒蛇、美洲豹、老虎和大象。这个区域看起来更受欢迎(人很多),服务也好多了,但是尽管有很多卖食物的小店,人们还是尽力邀请我们去吃并不想吃的米饭和炸鸡。看起来很简单,没有什么食欲。几乎没有人能吃好,因为坐了有几百人。这个动物园和救助站在做一件重要的事情,方式也正确。他们获得了一些非政府组织的帮助,但是还是需要资金。外国人收取5美元的门票,柬埔寨人只收取1000瑞尔。但是他们需要做更多工作来吸引和满足游客。

I highly recommend the "VIP" Behind the Scenes tour. Emma was fabulous and the work they do is exceptional. Sadly, I cannot recommend it as a "zoo" visit, at least for us spoiled Americans, as the circumstance for the animals is grim relative to what we expect at the glitzy zoos western culture offer. That being said, I highly recommend the Behind the Scenes tours.

Yes, Cambodia has exciting places to visit, but while traveling it's nice to take a "kindness break" now and then, and recharge your mental batteries (which can get run down with all the stimulation). Phnom Tamao was one of those places for me. I would suggest the Wildlife Alliance tour, where you not only see some rather rare and increasingly endangered species, you can also experience a love and gentleness that can be obscured while traveling. I don't know what it was, but going on a gentle walk with Lucky the elephant, softly scratching a grateful gibbon's back, being bounced on by a group of curious monkeys, and seeing the efforts to rehabilitate injured animals was a highlight of a very successful tour of Cambodia. It will be with me long after the adrenaline of other activities has faded.You'll see many great animals but this is a charitable endeavor rather than a classic zoo focused on showing off the animals. Because their health and safety is important, all the animals may not be available all the time, but the ones that will be available should make up for it. The highly-suggested organized tour requires some advance notice (you can do this online or at your hotel). The staff educated children about safety and education issues and watched them nicely (they also guard your belongings if you area away from the van). My group had a senior, young couples, and a family with children below 10 -- everyone said they thoroughly enjoyed it, so it's a trip for kids from six to ninety-six.It was especially reassuring to see this humane endeavor in a country which is hardly a rich one.

I liked the idea of this park (taking care of rescued animals) and wanted to see for myself. But since I couldn't find anyone to book a tour with me (minimum is 2 people) I just rented a scooter and went there myself. This way of course I didn't get up close with elephants but I didn't mind.The way there is a bit of a stretch (90minutes one way) but once your outside the city traffic flows pretty easily. Entrance fee was $5, if you wanna feed some animals, bring your own bananas or buy them there for a bit more then on the market.There was a lovely young women named Any who speaks a good amount of English (the money I paid her goes partially into her English classes) who showed me around the park for a few dollars, that was quite fun!So if you're by yourself or on a budget, I'd say drive there yourself and take a look, it's a nice day trip.

Great experience for any one love the wild life. All the staff are doing a great job there and I love the Lucky, the elephant is a sweet lady that you can give her bannana and enjoy with her. Everybody is so friendly, from the staff to the animals. I also had a nice walk next to Lucky in the forest and she is so fast and quiet. I also play with 4 small amazing little monkeys. Unforgetable experience. Highly recommended for people that truly appreciate the wildlife.

It's so great to see the effort of wildlife protection in such difficult circumstances. Even though pricy, but if I know that my 150$ buy some daily fruit for a baby monkey or a fish for an otter, I am happy to donate :) Our guide was Emma and the tour was really well organised with lots of information and answers to as many questions as you may have. What a great opportunity to get close to elephants, monkeys, gibbons and see the leopards play!Keep up the great job, guys and hope Lucky gets better soon!!

This is about an hour by taxi from Phnom Penh. It's $5 entry fee but there is very little signage and no maps are provided to find animals. A lad offered to guide me for $10 but this was only for one small area and there are two other large areas. Luckily my driver Ros Rotha was familiar with the site and showed me round. There are many people trying to sell you bananas for the monkeys and some deer are obviously used to being fed. There was a young girl selling small fish (4 for $1) beside the otters Unfortunately people were teasing the squealing otters to get them to beg as they were obviously hungry. I quickly bought a lot of fish and quickly distributed them to the otters to stop them having to beg. The Free the Bears area for the Sun bears is good and the lady was knowledgeable but then so is their place at Kuang Si. The bird cages are also very small and the lion looked very skinny! Seeing an elephant being made to dance was probably the final straw and I left. Some of the cages are large but some are definitely not. This appears more of a zoo than a rescue centre and if they do release any animals there was no evidence of it but that may have just been due to lack of signs or explanations. I appreciate it is a very poor area, evident by the number of people begging on the road in, but local kids punting food doesn't enhance the wildlife experience so maybe this needs better monitored and controlled and training the children for what is, and is not, acceptable best behaviour for looking after animals. Have small change to pay for toilets and take water and maybe a picnic if you don't like eating street food.

a lifetime experience in Cambodia, everyone is doing great work, Lucky the elephant is a sweetheart and a true artist, highly recommended for people that truly appreciate the wildlife.

Was great to see that consideration of endangered animals is on the agenda for some. Sadly while food sources shrivel up various species will continue to be at risk…but this Centre is a start

We volunteered at the Free the Bears project here and it is amazing. The whole conservation centre is pretty good but the Bear part is exceptional. Anyone who is interested in Wildlife conservation and helping, should have a look here, spend your money and time, it all goes back to helping the animals.

We are a family with two daughters, ages 6 and 9, who signed up for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Wildlife centre. What an experience! Our family all learned so much and got amazing insights into the efforts made by the centre and were so impressed by the care of the animals and the passion and dedication from the staff. Our girls will never forget Lucky the elephant! Do go and support this incredible centre!!!! All the best from the Trolle family in Lausanne, Switzerland

I took my 17 yo and 22 yo. We loved it. We enjoyed learning about how the animals were rescued and why although some were very touching stories. Very interesting and educating. A very good cause.