Phnom Ta Mao Zoo Close to Phnom Penh

Just 1 hour drive south of Phnom Penh, you will find the large Phnom Tamao Zoological Wildlife Park which is a zoo working to save some of the endangered species of animals in Cambodia like the Elephant, deer. panthers and bears.

Entrance fee into the Phnom Tamao Zoo costs $5 per person for foreigners. Cambodian Nationals it is is free of charge.

The highlight of the zoo for me were the Asian Elephants. There were 3 Elephants on display. You can get up close to the elephant grounds and help by buying some food and hand feeding the elephants.

The next highlight was the large enclosure with a large herd of deer. You can walk into the enclosure and walk right up to the deer. There was a large male deer with huge antlers which stood at the front with all of his women behind him. There are many small macaque monkeys roaming around the deer enclosure.

There are some large cages which have a selection of different types of Gibbons and monkeys and a few enclosures with local Cambodian crocodiles.

There used to be tigers at this park but sadly all the Cambodian Tigers are now extinct due to poaching of the Tigers or clearing of the forest where the tigers used to live in Cambodia.

Just 5 minutes drive from the zoo is the impressive Ta Prohm Temple which is really worth visiting at the same time as seeing the animals. You could do an easy half day trip from Phnom Penh to see both attractions as well as visiting Tonle Bati Lake.  I visited both the zoo and temple on my journey down from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville.

Check out the location of Phnom Tamao Zoological Wildlife Park